Dreaming of Someone
by Kassi
Summary: Sequel to 'Just a Dream Away' and 'Dream a Dream and See.' Auron's part of the Gullwings, and things are getting complicated between him and Rikku.
1. Heart of the Gullwings

DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2, all characters and situations belong to almighty Square Enix, and are used here for non-commercial purposes.

SPOILER ALERT: Absolutely everything related to FFX &amp; FFX-2.

AL BHED TRANSLATOR: You can Google one easily if you'd like to translate; I can't seem to embed a link here. You can probably get the gist of what's going on without translating. Most of it is swearing or clarified by dialogue in English.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the final story in my trilogy starting with 'Just a Dream Away' and continued in 'Dream a Dream and See.' (Read those first if you haven't.)

This is gonna be a LONG one, folks! Auron's part of the Gullwings, meaning the whole of FFX-2 turns out different. I'm skipping a lot of the sidequests and showing things from Rikku and Auron's alternating perspectives. If you've no taste for romance, or have an age gap squick, I recommend you go no further. Things get… complicated.

I appreciate you readers so much. Your encouragement and reviews have inspired me to keep going and keep sharing. If you find anything unclear or confusing confusing please please let me know so I can rewrite and clarify! If you don't like it or think you can do better, I encourage you most sincerely to write your own. Dissatisfaction is a fantastic motivator for creativity and fanfiction in particular.

Enjoy!

* * *

"Y. A. R. P." Rikku made a face, and continued softly into her receiver, "In position. It's showtime."

Luca stadium's crowd sounded like a thunderous tide set to drown her, and yet the only thing that really bothered her today—other than the fact that some imposter pretending to be Yuna had set up a concert to exploit her cousin's reputation—was that stupid acronym.

It was the least objectionable of all combinations of the initials of the ground component of the fabulous sphere-hunting Gullwings. With one disillusioned former High Summoner, a disillusioned Al Bhed former summoner, and a disillusioned former Yevon monk, 'P. R. A. Y.' was out of the question. Not to mention totally backwards in order of importance. Yuna was the one everyone on the team looked to, just like the rest of Spira, and the wild crowd packing Luca Stadium to the rafters.

_Or so they think!_ thought Rikku, glaring through her binoculars at the dancing, singing imposter and thundering drum set. It was a pleasure to ride a liberated camera platform with Paine and Auron down to the stage after the opening number and face off against whoever-it-was in that blue ruffled dress with that smug so-punchable smile. Rikku's fingers tightened on her thief daggers.

"Hey, give it back, already!" said Rikku.

"Boys!" cooed the imposter, in a sickly-sweet female voice that was definitely not like Yuna's.

At her cue, two goons somersaulted onto the stage.

"Want in on this number? Then show me your moves!" said the imposter.

Auron chuckled, and he and Rikku shared a nod.

"Think you can keep up?" said Paine.

Rikku had to hand it to Paine—she was a good swordswoman, although not nearly as good as Auron, and her fighting style fit in well with the well-practiced dynamic duo. They made short work of the goons and readied to close ranks around the imposter.

The distraction of the goons had given her time, and with a saucy, "Sorry, no time for an encore," she took to her stolen heels.

"Hold still!" Rikku cried, pursuing. She heard Auron and Paine's boots clumping behind her, but the imposter gave them quite a fast and merry chase through the stadium and out to Luca's docks.

"You run too fast!" Rikku gasped, and found she was facing a tall thin man with two guns and a short man so fat he was almost a sphere. Their shapes reminded Rikku of two of the long-lost Magus Sisters aeons, Cindy and Sandy.

"You're too slow, little girl," smirked Two Guns.

"Show's over!" said Sphere Man with a laugh like a cat clearing a hairball.

Rikku shook her head with a grin. "You don't know who you're dealing with, do you?"

"Looks like a couple of jailbait hookers and their pimp," said Sphere Man.

"Oh, you did _not_ just say that," snarled Rikku. "You're in for it n…"

The gunman fired at her and she threw herself flat. Auron leaped over her. She rolled up into a somersault and jumped into his waiting arms. He threw her at the gunman like a projectile and drew his sword to get on Sphere Man's case. Auron had given Rikku a bit of a spin to the toss so she twirled as she aimed her daggers at Two Guns' face. He squeezed off a couple more shots—one stung her shoulder, but by then he had to duck with a most satisfying look of terror. She folded and dropped on top of him.

More gunfire behind her heralded the arrival of the main attraction, the ace in the hole, the savior of Spira: Lady Yuna, sporting two pistols and a shorts ensemble worthy of Rikku's clothing style. The four of them seriously trounced their foes.

"That's quite enough sniveling, boys," came that arrogant female voice, and Yuna's doppelganger appeared. "Persistent, aren't you?" she said to the Gullwings.

"My grid," said Yuna.

"Give us back Yunie's Garment Grid right now!" said Rikku.

"Didn't you girls ever learn to share?" said the imposter.

Yuna's voice hardened, rare anger coloring her tone. "_Give it back_."

"Very well, it's yours." The imposter took it off, and the stolen appearance of Yuna melted away to show a blonde lady in an obscenely low-cut purple dress with an ironic red heart painted on her chest. She tossed Yuna the Garment Grid.

"But it won't be yours for long, loves!" The woman gestured with her fan at them, and she and her henchmen took up the fight in earnest. Halfway through, the three of them ran for it.

"I won't let you off so easily next time!" the woman called nastily over her shoulder.

"Get _back_ here!" Rikku yelled.

"Rikku." Something in Paine's serious tone made her turn around.

Yuna, now in the Songstress outfit her imposter had been wearing, was dancing and making uncertain noises, looking startled.

"Are you… all right?" said Auron, watching Yuna.

"I… I…" stammered Yuna. Fortunately she seemed to get control of herself and stopped, panting. "I… think so. Thank you, Sir Auron."

Auron laughed, but it sounded forced. "Just Auron. Hard to break the habit, is it not, _Lady_ Yuna?" The two shared a grin, and Yuna looked relieved.

* * *

"You sure looked like you were enjoying yourself. Victory dance?" Rikku asked Yuna, on the bridge of the airship Celsius.

"I was," said Yuna. "It felt like some other person's excitement just took over."

The littlest member of the Gullwings, Shinra, in his odd survival suit, piped up: "That can happen when you use the Garment Grid. The emotions of the person recorded in the sphere pass to the user."

"That sounds dangerous," said Auron.

Shinra stood up on his chair, at his station panel, and swiveled to face them, hands braced on the back of the chair. "I can't really say."

"But it's your invention!" protested Buddy, Celsius's captain.

Shinra shrugged. "I'm just a kid."

Pilot Brother, in his never-changing overalls and blond mohawk, cleared his throat. "Dancing Yuna? I want to see!" He gestured grandly, hungrily.

Rikku rolled her eyes at Auron, who grinned.

"It'll cost you," said Yuna, unexpectedly.

Brother frantically patted his pockets. "One moment…"

"She's kidding," said Paine.

"What?" said Brother, dismayed. "No dance?"

The sphere oscillo-finder's alarm shrilled, filling the bridge with both sound and excited anticipation.

"Ehlusehk tydy! Gullwings, du ouin cdydeuhc!" said Brother, reverting to his native Al Bhed tongue in his excitement.

Rikku sidled over to Auron and gave his rear a smack. "Nice one today. I liked the spin toss."

Auron made to return her swat, but she was expecting it and swayed out of reach. He grinned. "Our timing has improved."

"Think you could teach me?" Paine said to Auron.

Auron eyed her. "Which one of us, exactly, were you hoping to toss?"

Rikku couldn't help her bubbled laugh. Paine's stony face didn't show a crack.

"I mean, you could throw me," said Paine. "If we practiced."

Auron shrugged, his look impassive. "I suppose, if you are interested…"

"I am," said Paine.

Rikku gave her a puzzled frown, but it cleared when Yuna came over to talk to Paine, and then Rikku.

"Having fun?" said Rikku.

"You bet!" chirped Yuna.

"Glad to hear it," said Rikku. "For a while there, I was starting to feel like a kidnapper."

"With this one around, it's hard not to loosen up, isn't it?" Auron scrubbed at Rikku's explosion of tiny braids barely contained by loops and a headband. She squawked and punched his arm.

Yuna giggled. "I think you're both a good influence on me!"

"Oh, just wait," said Auron. "You think we're a good influence now, but soon you will be just as much a delinquent as I've become."

Yuna lowered her voice. "What about Paine? She seems so serious."

Auron laughed. "I was even worse, once upon a time."

"Good point," laughed Yuna, drifting across the bridge to check in with the rest of the ship's crew.

Paine sidled up to Auron. "Want to practice up on deck?"

"Now?" said Auron.

Rikku yawned hugely. She had zero interest in watching someone new trying to learn the killer trick she and Auron had perfected through years of practice. "You two kids have fun, I'm beat."

"Yes, at your age, you need your beauty rest," said Auron, himself sporting a peppering of grey hairs through his black spiky 'do. "Mind your rheumatism."

Rikku stuck her tongue out at him. "Whippersnapper."

"Are you sure you don't need assistance? A cane?" Auron called after her as she left the bridge.

"_Banjand_!" she yelled back as the doors shut behind her.

Despite her claims of exhaustion, Rikku writhed in her bunk. Her brain frustrated her with thoughts of Auron tossing Paine. It was a patented Auron and Rikku move, and they were the original killer Sphere Hunting team. They predated even Yuna and Buddy and Brother with the Celsius. It was their funding and their work that made it possible for the team to expand and get all this technology to help the hunting.

Rikku couldn't figure why it got under her skin to share this battle technique with someone else. After all, no one else on the ground team could effectively toss the others like Auron could, and maybe Yuna would want to get in on the action, too. The more options they had as a fighting team, the more baddies' asses they could kick.

Rikku sighed explosively.

"Something wrong?"

Rikku turned over and saw Yuna in the act of getting into the next bunk over.

"Nope," said Rikku, and felt a little confused knot of guilt in her stomach. It felt like a lie, but she didn't know the real answer, so she covered it by saying, "You were great out there today! I love your moves with that Gunner Sphere."

"Thanks, you're pretty handy with your Thief Sphere!" said Yuna.

"The outfits are totally _pedlreh_', too," said Rikku.

Yuna laughed. "They are! I never thought I'd turn into a clotheshorse, but I love the way everything fits and looks with the different fighting modes. It's just so much fun!"

"Quite a different…" Rikku interrupted herself with a yawn, "…look for you. It suits you."

"You think so?"

"Don't you?"

Yuna looked thoughtful. "It's strange. It's a whole new life, seems like. But… it's easy to enjoy. Easier than I thought."

"You deserve it. More than anyone else, I think." Rikku turned over in her bunk, pulling the blankets up.

"Hey, cousin?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for making me part of the team."

Rikku grinned. "Thanks for coming." _I wonder if you even know that though you were the last to join, you're really the heart of the Gullwings now. You can't really help it… it's part of who you are. The only people who don't wind up loving the crap out of you are losers and baddies._

_ …And I really hope we find what you're searching for._


	2. Mountain Climbers

Once the dream of the fayth had ended, the clouds shrouding Mount Gagazet dissolved like ice in water to reveal the Floating Ruins to which the Gullwings traveled in search of the source of the sphere waves they'd detected.

Landing right at the top seemed to unbalance Yuna, and she nearly tipped off the top just as she'd fallen from her abortive wedding ceremony to Maester Seymour in Bevelle three years prior—only this time there would be no Valefor aeon to fly to her rescue. Auron and Rikku dived to grab her.

"What's your status?" came Buddy's voice through the receiver.

"Disasterrific!" Rikku gasped as Auron struggled to heave up Yuna by her desperately gripping arm.

"'Disasterrific' is not a word!" Brother's voice spoke. "Say 'disastrous' like the rest of Spira."

"I'm not listening…" Rikku said through clenched teeth. Brother kept squawking as Auron and Rikku pulled Yuna up. The team surrounded her while they all caught their breath.

"Thanks, that was a little close," said Yuna.

"A _little_?" said Paine.

"_Come in_!" Brother's voice wailed.

Auron saw Rikku roll her eyes as Yuna reassured him. He looked away to hide his smile. Brother made no secret of the torch he carried for Yuna.

"Hey, don't tell me you've got vertigo," Paine said to Auron as they explored the Ruins, enjoying a nasty surprise in a malfunctioning elevator.

"Not a bit," said Auron. "You?"

Paine shook her head, fixing him with those impassive red eyes. "You seem… distracted."

He shrugged, keeping his face a mask.

"Thanks for the practice yesterday," she said.

"I told you it would be painful learning how to tuck and roll," he said. "I can only make my tosses so gentle."

"No, I really mean it," she said. "I hope we get more chances. Although until those bruises heal, I'd be grateful if you'd be willing to share some of those bushido moves you do." Her eyes flicked, betraying a little uncertainty, the first crack he'd seen in her cool exterior.

He grinned. "Glad to." He caught Rikku looking at him with a puzzled smile and gave her a wink. Far from lightening her look, her frown deepened and she looked away.

He had no more time to think; they found themselves face to face with the same woman they'd tangled with at the Luca docks.

"Leblanc," she finally introduced herself. "Remember that name well, loves!"

"Ah, the thief," said Yuna.

"Whatever do you mean?" said Leblanc. "That's what I hate about amateurs…"

Auron raised his eyebrows at Rikku.

"Maybe she'll go away if we ignore her," she suggested.

"You! I heard that!" snapped Leblanc. "Just as I was saying: amateurs! They have no concept of what it takes to be a true sphere hunter."

A laugh erupted from Auron. He adjusted the lay of his huge sword across his back and nudged Rikku, who giggled as well, sharing a private grin.

"Amateurs?" said Paine. "Weren't you following us?"

"Following? A mere coincidence," said Leblanc.

Her henchmen lumbered up behind her.

"You was right, boss, as always," said the shorter, tubby man.

"Indeed, following them has paid off splendidly," said the willowy gunman.

Yuna laughed. "I knew it! If it wasn't for these two sphere hunting wouldn't even be a thing, you know!" She jerked a thumb over her shoulder at Rikku and Auron. "You're not fooling anyone."

"Laugh while you can!" snarled Leblanc.

Paine gripped Auron's arm. "Toss me."

"Not until you've had more practice," said Auron, dropping to one knee with his hands cupped. As soon as his fingers met Rikku's boot was on them and he launched her. The fight had begun. Yuna, with her guns, looked to be having the time of her life.

Leblanc's group kept retreating to higher ground and calling forth a seemingly endless supply of goons, dispatched easily but irritating in their numbers. The Gullwings won out, reaching the top first, only to find it guarded by a huge fiend.

"Oh, now that's more like it," Rikku said, spinning her knives on her palms. "No stupid talk from this customer."

"Probably won't run away, either," said Auron, brandishing his sword.

"It comes!" said Paine.

Yuna's enthusiasm with her guns intrigued Auron, who switched dresspheres halfway through to try out Gunner. The pistols he wound up with were sleek, long black things that packed a hefty punch. The sphere had given him a long sleeveless brown duster, denim pants, absolutely zero shirt and tall brown pointed boots.

Rikku spotted his new outfit, grinned, and executed a change into Warrior, taking on a heavy sword to get in close. She really seemed to enjoy the hands-on approach to big fiends. Auron found a new thrill in the guns, even if the outfit didn't thrill him. The boots pinched and he longed for a shirt.

After the battle was when Yuna turned and saw him and laughed. He struck a ridiculous pose to go with the outfit. Rikku giggled as well.

"Let's see you in the Songstress Sphere!" Yuna cried.

"Yeah, c'mon, Auron!" said Rikku.

"Not on your life," said Auron. "And these boots are killing me." He transformed back to the comfort of Warrior.

"I'll do Songstress if you will!" said Rikku.

"No deal," he said.

Yuna picked up the sphere they'd come to find.

"It's obvious to the trained eye," Leblanc sneered behind them, with her henchmen. "That sphere's just a dud. Perfect for the Dullwings." She sailed off.

"Wow, amateurs," said Rikku.

Back on the Celsius, Brother had more histrionics and fawning over Yuna until Rikku kicked him. The sphere turned out to be one of Zanarkand, long ago, but just a glimpse of city life. Rikku sighed.

"Junk," said Paine.

"We can use it as a dressphere," said Shinra. "Black Mage."

He was interrupted by the sphere oscillo-finder again.

"Incoming data," said Buddy. "Gullwings, to your stations!"

"Never a dull moment," Auron muttered, grinning.

"How long do you plan on lying there?" Buddy said to the prostrate Brother, which got him up and grumbling in Al Bhed to the pilot seat.

"What is it?" said Yuna.

"The treasure sphere data you've been dying for," said Buddy, gazing into the angled readout of the oscillo-finder. "There's at least one on Besaid Island, and another in the Zanarkand Ruins."

"So, where to?" said Rikku, turning to Yuna. They all deferred to her, it just seemed natural. Even though they didn't talk about the sphere they'd brought her from the Scar of the Fayth, and they were all having an absolute blast sphere hunting, Auron knew it was Yuna's journey they were on. Much happier than the previous one, with a far less grave aim.

His eyes shifted to Rikku, thinking of the journey that had haunted her to the brink of sacrifice, similar to what Lord Braska and his daughter Yuna had both faced. He, Rikku, and Yuna were all lucky to be alive, all thanks to each other. All of Spira was lucky, to be basking in the Eternal Calm, to have the time and energy to be gallivanting around sphere hunting rather than fighting tooth and nail to live a miserable existence.

"Besaid," Yuna decided.


	3. Beach Bums

They landed on the hill overlooking the sleepy village that never seemed to change.

"I'm a little nervous," Yuna admitted.

"I bet," said Rikku.

"We left rather precipitously," said Auron.

"Without even telling anyone," said Rikku.

"Yeah, you said it," said Wakka, cresting the hill. Settled life had given him a bit of an equatorial spread. "You caused quite a fuss, young lady."

"I'm sorry," said Yuna.

"Well, as long as you're okay, ya?" His fatherly concern was obvious. Wakka and Lulu had practically raised her after the death of her father left her an orphan on Besaid. He glanced at Paine. "Your friend?"

"Oh, this is Paine," said Yuna. "We're looking for spheres together."

"The rumors are true, ya?" Wakka fixed Rikku and Auron with a steely look. "You two got everyone into that craze. Well, to tell you the truth I wasn't too worried. Gotta say, though…" he turned back to Yuna and surveyed her outfit, "you, uh, do seem pretty different."

Yuna giggled, and Rikku elbowed Wakka in the gut. "You haven't changed a bit, tubby!"

"Whoa! Cut it out, ya!" said Wakka, fending her off. "I'm gonna be a father soon. Got to have a little more presence, you know?" He gave Auron a nervous look.

"Right," Auron deadpanned. Wakka rubbed the back of his neck, looking embarrassed.

"How much longer?" said Yuna.

"Any day now!" Wakka enthused.

"Wakka, a daddy," said Rikku to Auron. "Can you believe it?"

"To tell the truth, I sure don't feel like one," said Wakka. "I mean, how do I know how a father's supposed to act in front of his kid?"

"I take it your father… wasn't around," said Auron.

"Sin saw to both my folks when I was still too little to remember 'em," said Wakka.

"You don't have any spheres of them?" said Yuna.

"Nope, not a single…" Wakka trailed off, distracted.

"What's wrong?" said Rikku.

"Oh, uh… nothing, nothing," said Wakka. "Anyway, do me a favor and go say hi to Lu. She's been worried about you. Get going!"

* * *

"Welcome back," Lulu greeted them warmly as they crowded into her home.

"Hi, Lulu," said Yuna.

Auron nodded to his old friend with a smile she easily returned.

"So tell us about the baby! It's gonna be born soon, right?" said Rikku, plopping herself in a chair.

"Hm. Not yet. Wakka's getting a little ahead of himself," said Lulu.

"Aw, bummer," said Rikku.

They went for a walk, and Yuna showed Lulu the sphere that had inspired her to leave her island seclusion and take up a whole new quest.

"It does look like him," said Lulu. "Though something seems a little off. …Have you found anything?"

Yuna shook her head. "Nothing. But there's still a lot of places we haven't looked yet."

"Must be fun, being free to go where you please," said Lulu. Auron arched an eyebrow at her, but all her attention was on Yuna.

"It _is_ fun, I never expected a journey quite like this," said Yuna.

Lulu invited them all to stay the night. Supper was familiar, homey. Auron hoped to chat with Wakka, but the latter seemed preoccupied and went to bed early. Auron sat under the stars in the village square and smelled the cool humid salt air with Lulu.

"Do you wish you were on this journey with her?" he said to her.

She sighed, resting a hand on her rounded belly. "I have no regrets… but it does stir… something… in me to see her so happy and free."

"And how is married life?" he said.

She smiled again, the wistfulness gone. "It's different than I expected. All of life is different, in the Eternal Calm. Wakka and I… we've grown closer in ways I didn't think I could experience with another person, after all I'd been through." She glanced at him. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, we've always been close friends." After a pregnant pause, she added, "…Like you and Rikku."

He arched an eyebrow at her. She mirrored him.

"What's on your mind?" she said.

"Everything and nothing." He whistled a snatch of tune. "It is so _tysh_ _quiet_ here. Are you and Wakka really happy settling down?"

She shrugged. "It's not for everyone, I'll admit, but it works for us. It seems it wasn't for Yuna, any more than for you and Rikku. I'm worried, though."

"I know. I take comfort in the fact that Yuna seems to be enjoying sphere hunting in and of itself, and although I can tell she's thinking about him, she truly is happy. She's surrounded by friends, and seeing the whole new world she helped create."

"But how likely do you think it is you'll find anything more about him?"

"Who knows?" He saw her look and sighed. "I can only hope, and hope has kept me going for a long time when otherwise it would have been easier to despair. We have all seen more impossible things than we ever imagined. And still there is more to see."

"Is that why you do it?"

"Maybe. I suppose I've gotten used to the hunt for information, for the unknown. Even though the world no longer hangs in the balance, the discovery is still quite a thrill."

"And there's always kicking ass, of course. Or… what's the word… _ycc_?"

He laughed. "Indeed."

Shrieking giggles interrupted them. Auron swiveled to face the unlikely sight of Rikku and Yuna in bikinis, dripping wet with sandy feet, their shoulders draped in bright towels, running up from the path to the cove.

"_There_ you are!" said Rikku.

"We couldn't find you and Paine didn't want to go," said Yuna. "I love the moonlight on the waves!"

"What do you call this dressphere?" said Auron, bemused.

"Beach Bum!" cried Rikku, whirling her towel around her like a floppy ineffective weapon. "My attacks are tanning and looking _fiiiiiiine_!"

"Not really effective on fiends, but I am sure it goes a long way with young men," said Auron, shifting his eyes to include Yuna.

Both of the girls giggled.

"You _will_ hose off before going to bed," said Lulu. "No tracking all that wet sand in the house."

"Yes _mom_," said Rikku, sticking her tongue out at Lulu.

"C'mon," said Yuna, linking her arm in her cousin's, still giggling. "I'll show you where the hose is."

"That water better not be cold!" said Rikku.

"Freezing," guaranteed Yuna.

"_Ur ramm_, we're gonna get pneumonia!" said Rikku, their voices receding after them.

Lulu nudged Auron with her foot, and he realized she'd said his name as he was watching them go.

"Hmm?" he said.

She gave him a knowing look. "Be _careful_."

"I don't know what you mean," he said gruffly, trying to cover his discomfort.

"Yes, you do. And I'm telling you: be careful."

He stood up and stretched. "Perhaps we should call it a night." The distant shrieks of two girls discovering just how cold the hose water was punctuated this thought. Without further words Auron went in to bed, although it was some time before his brain wound down from a distracted spin to let him sleep.

* * *

"Surf's up, sleepyhead!" Rikku jumped on the sleeping Auron to wake him up. He wrestled her to the ground, growling. He put his face inches from hers.

"No," he said.

"It's always best at first light, come on!" she said, hauling at him by the foot as he tried to crawl back into bed. He kicked at her with the other foot and she dodged nimbly.

"People are trying to sleep," Paine snarled. "Including a pregnant woman. Show some respect."

"Yeah, Auron, let's get out of here and leave them in peace," said Rikku. "I've got the boards ready!"

"I said no," he said, trying to pry her fingers off his bicep.

"You grumble and growl and then you always have a blast!" Rikku insisted. "C'mon, Auron, _pleeeeease_…"

"Out," said Lulu. It was one word, delivered lowly, but it sent both of them out of the hut. Auron glared at Rikku.

"I have half a mind to go to the Crusaders' Lodge and sleep there," he said as she picked up her pink and green surfboard.

"Youth League Lodge," she said, thrusting the olive-colored one splashed with blue flowers at Auron, as well as a pair of blue and white swim trunks. "And no, you're not."

"Is Wakka down there already?" he said, falling into step behind her. The morning air was chilly through his pajamas.

"Probably. He was gone when I got back from getting the boards."

"How on Spira do you wash the saltwater out of those braids? I never see you take them down."

"They're magic braids. They repel all the salt and only get the water."

"You're a liar."

"And a thief. And so are you."

"Picked up most of your bad habits by now, I shouldn't wonder."

"Just like I picked up grumbling from you."

"You do not grumble, you whine."

"I do _nooooooot_!" She broke off in a giggle, and he hit her nearly-bare butt with the tip of his surfboard. That yellow thong left almost nothing to the imagination. He fervently hoped that Besaid's male population had chosen this morning to sleep in instead of catch the waves, and incidentally views of this tiny scantily clad Al Bhed girl.

His wish was not to come true. There were a couple of surfer dudes out already who goggled at Rikku as she paddled her board happily out into the animated surf. He ground his teeth and followed. He didn't spot Wakka out in the waves, but by then he was focused on heading out to the delicious dawn curlers that, as promised, were waiting. After that all his worries washed away. He and Rikku yelled challenges and digs to one another in Al Bhed across the roar of the surf. They rose and skated and swirled and whirled and wiped out and scrambled up and had the time of their lives.

Afterward, they carted their boards up the beach, soaked and panting, and found Paine sitting and watching them—or, more accurately, him. She did not take her gaze off him for a moment.

"Morning," said Rikku breathlessly. "You missed some great surf."

"Oh, I saw," said Paine, locking gazes with Auron. After a moment she raked her eyes languidly down him, then let them drift up to meet his again, almost a hint of a smile on her lips. "Yuna's still asleep. Seems she missed the show of a lifetime."

"Nothing she hasn't seen before," said Auron. "You're on our towels."

Paine got up, allowing them to grab them and mop some of the ocean off. She followed them back to the village, taciturn as usual.

"Did you see that massive one I rode? That must have been a twelve-footer!" Rikku said to Auron.

"Six, at the most," he scoffed. "I hope you spotted the tube I rode."

"I did," she said. "Now aren't you glad I dragged you out here?"

"No," he said.

"Liar."

He grinned.


	4. Freedom

The morning transformed into a quest to track down Wakka in some hidden cave. Rikku felt refreshed and invigorated by the surf with Auron, and hunting down codes to find a way into the cave and then bashing through all the fiends inside was right up her sphere-hunting alley.

Afterward, Auron and Wakka took a walk to have a chat. Rikku sat on a cliff overlooking a cerulean bay and fiddled impatiently with her garment grid. Yuna plopped down beside her and nudged her. Rikku glanced up at her cousin's grin and grinned in response.

"You were right," said Yuna. "I'm having a great time."

"There's a whole lot of adventure out there, these days," said Rikku. "And not so much death."

Yuna hugged her cousin.

"I was worried about you, you know," said Rikku.

"_Me_?" said Yuna, surprised.

"Yeah." Rikku waved her arm at the island. "All this… it's so _quiet_, Yunie. I don't know how you could _stand_ it for two years."

Yuna laughed. "And I could never figure how you and Auron could stand to run around the world nonstop for two years, bickering with each other! Turns out you two were having a lot of fun. Maybe you could give the quiet life a try someday, see what you're missing."

"Are you kidding? Could you see _me_ staying in one place for that long?" Rikku caught her breath with a gasp, her mind flashing back to how close she'd come to doing just that—making herself a fayth, fixed forever to the face of a cliff on Gagazet, dreaming two people back to reality. She had a flash of her frozen statue of a body stuck to the cliff—Yuna and Tidus and Auron and Jecht all standing there, looking at her, far beyond their reach. All of them crying, even Jecht.

"Probably not," Yuna said softly. "Hey… Rikku?"

Rikku shook herself out of the unpleasant daydream. "Uh huh?"

"Is… is it…" Yuna hesitated. The look on her face was so longing and wretched.

Rikku put an arm around Yuna. "If he's out there, Yunie, we _will_ find him. I _promise_ you that. I won't rest until we either find him or… find out why not. You can count on me."

Yuna leaned her head on her cousin's shoulder, then lifted it with a bright and sunny smile. "Thanks. Knowing the Great Rikku is on the case makes me feel so much better! Seeing what you did for Auron, and for me, getting us out of our respective shells—I think there's nothing you can't do, cousin."

"Hey, who was it brought the Eternal Calm?" said Rikku. "I think we're both unstoppable. And we've got the Legendary Guardian on the trail, too. And Paine may be a bit of a, well, pain sometimes, but she's _pedlreh_' with a sword. Nothing can stop the Gullwings!" Rikku punched the air, and Yuna gave her a high five.

"Yeah!" said Yuna. "Woo hoo!"

"Hey, are you two ladies ready to go yet?" said a deadpan voice behind them. "We're waiting."

They turned to see Paine, arms folded, leaning against a rock face, and Auron with a sly grin.

Rikku made an irritated noise. "Well, finally! Let's get going, Gullwings!"

"Yarp," said Auron, just to annoy her. She chased after him, sand kicked up by his buckled boots spraying in her face, his laughter trailing.

* * *

"Lady Yuna, your concert was incredible!" a man in Luca gushed to Yuna.

"Would you sign this, _pleeeeeease_?" begged a kid.

Rikku rolled her eyes. She wondered if everyone had forgotten the fight at the climax of the concert, and that no one seemed to have heard about the showdown at the docks. Either that or Luca's overactive rumor mill was working at cross purposes again. She took charge: "Single file, no pushing! The Gullwings, at your ser… hey! Where are _you_ going?" She chased after Auron.

"Tem and I have a game to finish," he said.

She made a face. "Sphere Break _again_? You're gonna lose all our money!"

"So steal us more," he said, unperturbed.

"You _sunuh_!" She ran and leaped up on his back. Anticipating this he rolled to the side and she dropped to the ground. "Owww! _Yccruma_! I don't steal gil so you can _becc_ it away on gambling! You're gonna get addicted, and who's gonna save your sorry _ycc_ then, huh? Huh?!" She stuck her tongue out at his retreating back.

When she turned around, Yuna and Paine had vanished. Rikku searched the faces of the bystanders flowing past around her. She felt suddenly detached from everything around her, not just her teammates. The colors seemed flat and washed out, and so did all the people. They flowed past her unseeing, uncaring.

_I spend so much of my time around Auron and Yuna, and people are always stopping them to talk to them_, she realized. _I'm always irritated and wanting them to just leave us alone, and now that's just what they're doing. No one cares that I'm an Al Bhed. No one here knows I was a guardian to two High Summoners, that I helped beat Sin—twice—or that I went back in time. To them, I could be anyone… or no one._

The freedom chilled and thrilled her. She glanced around one last time, in case Yuna, Paine, or Auron had come back to tell her to hustle and get a move on. Seeing no familiar faces, a giggle erupted from her and she stepped into the flow of people, letting it carry her along.


	5. Sphere Break

"So how is pimp life treating you?" said Tem.

Auron glowered at him, tapping coins rapidly.

"You know what you need? A big feathered hat. Doesn't one of those dress-up spheres have one of those? Maybe a purple one?" said Tem.

"It's not going to work," said Auron, as the core broke and the dealer reset it.

"What's not?" said Tem, innocently, playing a combo.

"Your strategy."

"I don't know what you mean."

"My concentration is unbreakable."

"I'm just asking how my old friend is." Tem shook his head. "I don't envy you. Traveling around with three girls half your age? I would be tearing my hair out in fistfuls. I'm surprised you're not drinking more and popping remedies to deal with the headaches from all the adolescent shrieking and squealing."

"What do you know of it?"

"My daughter's that age."

Auron's knee jostled the table, and the coins leaped and rolled.

"Foul!" said the dealer. "Two bonus points to player two next turn."

"_Vilg_," Auron swore. Tem laughed at him. "That isn't funny. Your daughter is _eleven_."

"What's the difference?" said Tem mildly. "Yes, Lady Yuna did defeat Sin and bring the Eternal Calm, but she's running around having the childhood she never had along with two girls her age—and you. Don't you feel like a rusty, cantankerous old man?"

Auron ground his teeth, tapping coins. He refused to be baited mid-turn.

"Unless you're carrying a torch for Lady Yuna. And I wouldn't blame you, you're not alone. Hell, after that concert, half of Luca's male population was…" Tem saw his friend's look and stopped. "You're right, I went too far." He held up his hands.

Auron, a slow delicious grin erasing his murderous scowl, played a combo and won the game.

"Oh, you _asshole_!" cried Tem.

"Let's get a drink at the bar," said Auron, collecting his winnings.

"No way! You're not walking away from this table until I get my money back!"

"Never happen. I'm tired of watching you lose. I tell you what, I'll buy the first round, since you're being such a gentleman loser."

"I hope your teeth melt." Tem followed him to the bar anyway, never one to pass up free booze, even if he maxed out at two these days. As they sat Tem dug out a remedy himself. He popped it, and glared at Auron. "Well, I was speaking from experience, if you must know. Ria is an unholy terror and I do not know where her mother gets her patience."

"I envy you, in some ways."

"You what now? Did you not hear me? I have headaches even when that shrill harpy daughter of mine isn't around screaming about the latest fashion craze or some new hot sphere recording she absolutely _has_ to have because all her friends have it." Tem tweezed the bridge of his nose and downed half the drink Auron placed in his hand. "_Oy_."

"A lot of people our age and even younger than us are settling down with their families, and starting new ones."

"Hey, there's nothing stopping you, man. I'm sure there's no end of eligible, hot, _adult_ women willing to play house with the Legendary Guardian. Hell, just step outside and we could have a bachelor auction and get several hundred times over what you just robbed from me."

Auron snorted, sipping his fruity unfiltered sake. "Not what I had in mind."

"So, what, then? Are the rumors true?"

Auron half-grinned and knocked back another sip. "What rumors? I think I can take it." He glanced at his hesitant friend. "You know they don't bother me. You have always shared the latest rumors about me and my alleged Al Bhed 'bit of stuff.' I like a good laugh."

"Yes, you do." Tem stared at his drink. "You've changed."

"So have you, my friend. We all have. It's the Eternal Calm. All of Spira is changing."

"That's not what I mean. Your personality… well… I don't think I've done a complete one-eighty like you have, Auron. Sometimes I hear things and I think they're talking about someone else entirely, and when I see you I can almost believe them. I keep expecting my old friend to walk in the door and yet every time I see you, you're even more different."

"Is that so bad? As I recall I was a pretty stormy drunk in those days, when we met."

"Yeah, me too. If not for you I think Keena would have left me. You smacked some sense back into me and you rode my ass all the way back to sobriety. And yet I could never do the same thing for you. You just… withdrew. You stopped drinking around me, around anyone, but I know that jug you were carrying around for ten years wasn't full of water. Eventually it seemed like you'd just poured yourself into that jug and become a walking hollow shell. Like some pyrefly projection of yourself from the Farplane. I even wondered…" Tem stopped. He finished his drink looking down at the puddles on the bar.

"You… thought I was unsent?"

"It crossed my mind. I mean… guardians of High Summoners never had a great survival rate. They call you the Legendary Guardian for a reason, Auron. You survived two battles with Sin."

_I'm not the only one_, Auron carefully didn't say, filling his mouth with sake instead of Rikku's secret. "I did. And I assure you, I am just as alive as you are."

"I don't doubt that. I think you're _more_ alive than I am, Auron. In a lot of ways I envy you. I mean, I never really wanted to travel. A settled, safe, secure life is all I ever wanted, but my family and I were always on the run from Sin, trying to find somewhere safe since my wife and I lost our families, and our… our son." Tem sighed. "Now I have everything I ever wanted, and I look at you and wonder sometimes why I didn't want what you have now—a life of freedom from responsibility."

Auron turned his head slowly, eyebrow up.

"No, not…" Tem sighed. "That didn't come out right. Bartender, another, please. …I mean, yeah, you do have responsibilities. You are the paragon of responsibility as far as Spira is concerned. But right now, looking at you and your life, you seem totally carefree. I have the safety and the family I always wanted and I wonder if it's worth the price I paid."

"Does it really bother you that much?"

Tem sighed and sipped his refilled drink. "Well, a few years ago it wouldn't have, and maybe in a few years it won't, when Ria settles down. But I worry she's going to turn out a raving beauty like her mother, like the girls you travel with, and some old man… okay, not old man, but someone our age is going to be running around Yevon knows where with her." Tem turned desperate eyes to Auron. "Tell me the rumors aren't true, that you're not… sleeping with all three of them."

Auron laughed, starting small but eventually quaking with it, clutching the bar. Tem tensed, then laughed as well and slung an arm around Auron.

"Yeah, you're right!" said Tem, and shook his head. "I shouldn't listen to rumor. I just don't see the appeal in this situation for you, but I keep thinking of the Auron I knew. And you sure don't _dress_ like him." Tem scrutinized Auron's leather and buckles. "One of these days you're going to walk in here in drag and I will be the only one completely unsurprised."

Auron shrugged. "It could happen. Yuna and Rikku are both cunning and sly enablers. I have been coerced into surfing as a hobby."

"Oh, shit, and that was one of the rumors I was _convinced_ couldn't be true!" Tem fumbled his glass trying to set it down and jerked to grab it before it fell off the back of the bar, only spilling half of it in his excited haste. "I have got to see this! Auron, tell me there's a sphere!"

"Oh, there is, in the hands of a young woman I don't trust not to blackmail me." Auron winked. "Finish up and let's play another round. I'm feeling generous and might let you feel like you're going to win for once."

"Hey, I'll drink to that!"


	6. Where Nobody Knows Your Name

"_There_ you are," snapped Paine, pushing through Luca's sports bar. Reruns of the latest Sphere Break Tournament pulsed eerie colors and muted voices over a crowd uninterested in anything but their own babble and booze. She reached Rikku at the bar. "Yuna and Auron have been looking everywhere for you."

"Oh, who's your pretty friend?" said the Morfon, Kilika Beasts' goalkeeper, giving Paine a suave grin. He hadn't been having much luck competing with Rigel the Youth League lieutenant and the mysterious 'merchant' on either side of Rikku, buying her drinks. Rigel and Morfon had been regaling her in a game of one-upmanship with ever more ludicrous tales of heroics, but Rigel did it with laughing finesse where Morfon boasted. The 'merchant' remained mysterious behind a half-lidded half-opened smile.

"We don't have time for this," sighed Paine, sounding like a petulant mother. "We're ready to leave. Now."

"Oh, lighten up, have a drink with me," said Rikku. "I'll buy. This isn't like Yuna's pilgrimage. The spheres will still be there. Don't you remember that this is the Eternal Calm? A round of drinks for everyone, on me this time!"

A rousing cheer met Rikku's offer. Paine rolled her eyes and grabbed Rikku's arm.

"Hey, watch it!" Rikku jerked her arm away.

"Ooh, catfight!" said Morfon, clapping his hands and nearly falling off his barstool.

Rikku held up a finger under the irate swordswoman's nose. "_One_ drink with me, Paine, and I promise I'll come quietly."

"You're gonna regret this," said Paine. "And you're not the only one. Shove over, creep." She said this last to Morfon as she pushed him off his stool, where he staggered drunkenly into a Ronso. The Ronso whirled in a passionate fury. Rikku, thinking quick, leaped up on her stool and leaned in to give him a sloppy kiss and a winning smile.

"Soooo sorry, you hunk of Ronso!" she said, exaggerating her drunkenness. "I just didn't know how else to get you to notice me! Have a drink with me? My treat!"

Morfon's teammates helped him over to a table, and the dazed man seemed not to have realized his near-miss with Ronso rage. The Ronso stared at the Al Bhed girl for a long, crucial moment, and then began to rumble with a laugh. He moved in to take the stool on the other side of her, Mysterious Merchant having vanished to the far wall at the first sign of trouble but still watching her. Mysterious lifted his glass and corners of his lips as she caught his eye.

"Are you always this much trouble?" said Paine.

"Yes," said Rikku. "Paine, I'd like you to meet my new boyfriend… what's your name?" she said to the Ronso.

The Ronso exploded with laughter this time and clapped her gently—for a Ronso—on the shoulder, nearly sending her face first onto the bar. "Ikkyu."

"Oh, I _love_ it!" said Rikku. "I'm Rikku! You sure we're not related?"

Ikkyu banged on the bar, laughing. "You are funny for hornless small one!"

Paine put her face in her hands with a sigh.

"Drink this," said Rikku, urging a glass of something brown at Paine. "She doesn't have a sense of humor," Rikku confided in a stage whisper to Ikkyu. "I'm trying to build her one. I'm an Al Bhed, building things is my specialty."

Paine downed the glass in one shot and slammed it rim-down on the counter so hard Rikku was amazed it didn't break. "One drink," said Paine. "Now let's leave before you accidentally burn this place to the ground."

"I haven't finished mine." Rikku sipped primly.

"Perhaps your friend is not so good friend," said Ikkyu.

She sighed. "Yeah, I'm getting nowhere fast with her." She gave Paine a wounded look.

Paine turned away. Rikku thought she was about to leave. Instead Paine shot out a hand and grabbed the bartender. She shoved the empty glass in his startled hand. "Give me one more of these," she said, "with some alcohol in it this time."

Rikku cheered, joined in by the rest of the patrons who didn't know what they were cheering but had by then mostly received their free drinks. She dumped a pile of gil on the bar, vanishing quickly into the bartender's eager and sticky hands.

_Much better way to spend money than lining Rin's pockets at Sphere Break_, thought Rikku. _House always wins over there, and here I'm winning the house!_

* * *

"There you… oh my aeons!" gasped Yuna, stopping dead in her tracks as Rikku approached her and Auron.

"Is Paine hurt? Oh no!" Yuna rushed forward.

"She's fine, just passed out drunk," said Rikku, Paine slung heavily over her bent shoulder. "And heavier than I expected."

Auron bent double and howled with laughter. Paine twitched and mumbled something irritated on Rikku's bare back, which was getting covered in sleep-drool. Yuna hesitated, looking from Rikku to Auron.

"She tried to drink you under the table, didn't she?" said Auron. "I've seen plenty of young men carried out of bars in that particular state, but I never in my life thought I'd see you do it to Paine."

"Still waters run deep, I guess," grunted Rikku. "Give me a hand, old man!"

He slow-clapped and she snarled at him. She dropped to her knees and eased Paine into an undignified heap on the dirty Luca paving stones.

"We'd better get her up to the Celsius," said Yuna.

"Yeah, you do that. I've got to refresh my herb stock to take care of her hangover or she'll be super-_pedlro_ tomorrow." Rikku shook her head at the unconscious young woman. "What a mess!"

"All your fault, I'm sure," said Auron.

Rikku punched the air. "You know it! This isn't going to help her sense of humor any, though. I've got to find a way to make it up to her or she might stab me in my sleep for this." She trotted off to the item shop, trying to rub life back into her aching back. She could feel Auron behind her, even though she couldn't hear him over the noise of the crowd noticing and coalescing around Yuna.

While Rikku waited in the cool, quiet item shop for her order, Auron turned around and leaned his elbows on the shop counter, rolling his head toward her with a smirk.

"Yeeeeesss?" she said.

"You're not even drunk, are you?" he said.

"C'mere, let me breathe on you," she said.

He leaned away and simultaneously snaked a hand in to pinch her bare midriff. She smacked his fingers away. He grabbed her wrist. She broke the grasp, squaring off against him and hunching into a fighting stance.

"Take it outside!" said the frantic shopkeeper, shoving a bag at Rikku.

Rikku and Auron startled the woman by laughing at her, linking arms, and strolling out into the Luca sun. It never seemed to rain in Luca, in spite of the evidence to the contrary in its flourishing window-boxes, planters and verdant small gardens.

"What do you think would make it up to Paine?" said Rikku. "She likes you, after all."

"More combat lessons from the 'Legendary Guardian,'" he said, miming air quotes and almost dislocating her shoulder since he didn't bother to untangle his arm from hers first. She squawked.

"Yeah, but how does that help me?" she said.

"Be nice to her. Give her tips. Cheer her on the sidelines," he said. "You could be a great teacher if you'd stop giving her a hard time."

"I don't give her a hard time!"

"Yes, you do. You rub her the wrong way."

"Well I wouldn't, if she would lighten up a bit!"

"You could tone it down for her. _If_ you want her to like you. If you're fine with her being as standoffish with you as she's been since day one, then just keep doing what you're doing, Rikki."

She sobered at this. He hadn't called her Rikki in a long time. It sounded condescending now from him, as if he'd been treating her with more respect, at least in how he called her, though he was just as incorrigible in other ways. To hear it now suddenly gave her a nasty taste in her mouth.

She hiccupped. _…Nope, it's the cheap sake. That bartender substituted paint remover after the first glass, I swear._


	7. Tramps and Thieves

"It's those creeps again!" Rikku hissed, pointing up ahead. Leblanc's two main goons vanished into the entrance to Mushroom Rock Road.

"Maybe there's a sphere here," said Paine.

Auron had no idea what had passed between the two of them that morning, but he'd heard unexpected laughter from the upper bunks and Paine seemed to be hangover-free and warming to Rikku. He grinned to himself.

_If Rikku could unfreeze me back in my dekrd-ycc Yevon monk days, she'll have no trouble winning Paine over_, he thought. Such was the magic of Rikku, to his mind. An unsung magic all its own.

"It's our turn to do the following," said Yuna.

Auron followed, bemused.

"Good to see you again, Lady Yuna, Sir Auron," a young man said to them as they approached. "You haven't forgotten me, have you?"

"Yaibal, isn't it?" said Yuna. "You're in the Youth League."

Yaibal beamed. "You really do remember me! I'm truly honored, Lady Yuna! Since that day we first spoke, the Youth League has been conducting a sphere hunt of its own. We, the Youth League… Hmm… Clasko, take it from here."

"Clasko! Dude, how's it hanging?" chirped Rikku.

"We, the Youth League, to better our understanding of Spira's past, vow to remain vigilant in our search…" Clasko the former chocobo knight said dully, "…for ruins and spheres." His eyes darted from her to Auron, and he nodded. "Sir Auron."

Auron glanced at Rikku, who was peering off down the path, apparently uncaring about her own anonymity.

"Oh, that's enough!" said Rikku. "Those two guys are getting away!"

"Did Leblanc's men pass through here?" said Paine.

"Yes. They said they're here to take care of our fiend problem," said Yaibal.

"More fiends than usual here?" said Auron. "Sometimes they flock to spheres."

"Well," said Yaibal, "the Youth League is in preparation for an important operation, leaving our patrols shorthanded. As a result, the road to headquarters has been overrun with fiends. Be warned: unless you can defeat the fiends on the road, you will not be able to pass. So, are you ready to run the gauntlet?"

"We were _born_ ready!" said Rikku. "You're talking to a High Summoner and the Legendary Guardian!"

Auron gave her a Look.

"We're game," said Yuna.

As Clasko led them glumly into the rocks, Auron snuck up behind Rikku and gave her a really hard smack on the ass.

"Owww!" Rikku whined, and cuffed him alongside the ear. "Save it for the fiends!"

"Hu suna 'Makahtyno Kiynteyh' pimmcred," he said. "I'm serious, Rikku. Oui ghuf E ryda ed."

She gave him a contrite look. "E bnuseca. I'm sorry."

Fiends attacked, giving them a welcome diversion. They caught sight of Logos and Ormi, and the chase after Leblanc's cronies was on. Rikku and Auron shared a grin, feeling the high of a good old-fashioned sphere hunt seize them both.

They found tall thin Logos and short fat Ormi at the end of the chasm, sorting through handfuls of spheres.

"This one ain't no good," said Ormi.

"Nor this one," said Logos.

"What're you doing?" said Yuna.

The two men panicked at the sight of her.

"Let's get out of here!" said Ormi, gathering their spheres.

"We must inform the boss!" Logos's clipped voice rang out, followed by a crack from his gun. The two vanished in the ensuing smoke.

Rikku darted forward. "Ooh, they dropped something!"

"Finders keepers," said Yuna.

A familiar man approached them. "Hey. Long time no see. Remember me?"

"Maroda," said Auron. "Good to see you."

"How've you been?" said Yuna.

"I joined up with the Youth League and that's been keeping me pretty busy," said Maroda.

"Oh, I'm a sphere hunter now," said Yuna.

"So I gathered, from your companions. Sir Auron." Maroda nodded to him. "Pacce's a sphere hunter now, too. He's the leader of the Kinderguardians. Be nice to him if you see him."

"Can do!" said Rikku, clearly fingering the outline of the sphere that had vanished into her pouch as soon as Maroda appeared.

"How's Isaaru?" said Yuna.

"The Youth League discovered this place, you know," said Maroda. "It's called the Den of Woe. It was sealed around the time of Operation Mi'ihen."

"And Isaaru?" pressed Yuna.

"But, uh, the seal can supposedly be broken with the right combination of spheres," said Maroda.

"Um…"

"I'm afraid this place is off-limits until we can conduct a more thorough investigation. So I'll, um, have to ask you to leave. I'm sorry."

As they left, Auron sidled up to Rikku. "What'd you get?"

Rikku shrugged. "I didn't get a chance to look. I think I'll wait 'till we're back on the Celsius. No sense tipping anyone off to _our_ treasure."

"Very wise," said Paine, closer to them than either had realized; they both jumped.

"Jeez, make some noise, wouldya?" said Rikku. "Even I don't sneak like you do, and I'm a professional thief."

Paine quirked an eyebrow at her but said nothing. Auron thought she seemed pleased with herself, but distant.

The Youth League greeted them at their headquarters, more familiar faces eager to speak to Yuna now that she'd come out of hiding on Besaid Island.

"The Youth League's looking for spheres, too, right?" Rikku said to Lucil.

"Yes," said Lucil. "'Knowledge of the past is the key to the future.' So says the meyvn. It is with these words in mind that we seek the spheres of yore. The mission we are planning also revolves around a sphere, but…"

Auron's ears pricked up. Paine turned the full force of her ruby stare on Lucil.

"I am sorry. I had best say no more. It is not a matter to be discussed openly," said Lucil.

"No, I suppose not," said Paine, provoking even more interest in Auron.

_Hmm_, he mused. _Something stirring in the past of our stoic swordswoman?_

Clasko, back at the entrance to the canyon, caught up with them and treated them to an unexpected diatribe. "That's it. Every time I try something new, I screw it up. I just don't know what I want to do with my life. I don't know where I belong. I've spent my whole life drifting from one failure to the next. But, I can't keep doing this forever. I know that there's a place for everyone in this world—even someone as sad and pathetic as me. Lady Yuna! I want to find my place! Please, allow me to ride on your airship!"

All of them turned to Yuna.

"The more the merrier!" she said.

Unfortunately, Clasko turned out to be terrified of flying.

* * *

"Everyone's staring," said Yuna, looking to Auron. The crowd inside the Djose temple thickened.

"You're famous, Yunie. Better get used to it," said Rikku. "Auron hates it too, maybe he can give you some tips. On sulking effectively, at least."

"All I want's some peace and quiet," said Yuna.

Auron laughed. "You picked the wrong team to travel with, then."

"Poor thing," Rikku said to Paine. "She's led such a sheltered life."

"Maybe she's getting old," said Paine, in an unselfconscious moment, and then looked at Auron and an awkward silence fell.

Auron rescued them, lifting his eyes as a man with an eye patch approached. "Gippal."

"Sir Auron," said Gippal. "How's it hanging?"

"Well. And yourself?" said Auron.

"Not too shabby. Last time I saw you, you seemed… stressed." Gippal's eyes flicked to Rikku.

Auron nodded. "I never got a chance to thank you for your assistance. I am in your debt."

"Oh, are you now?" Gippal looked amused. He approached Rikku. She flinched and swiveled her hips out of the way as he reached for her. Instead of picking her pocket he took her hand and kissed it.

Auron's brows show up. Rikku looked completely dumbfounded.

"Nice to see you're well, Rikku. Can I show you around, give you the rundown on our latest research?" he said. "I'd love to hear what you think."

"You… would?" she said.

"Of course!" He spread his arms expansively. "It's a whole new world for us Al Bhed. And you're one _ramm_ of an engineer. Maybe you might be interested in doing some work for us."

"I have a job, thanks," she said, following him into the temple. She shot Auron a bewildered look as the rest of the Gullwings followed.

"No need to stop sphere hunting," said Gippal. "There's plenty to find in the desert, if you know where to look. Here." He flipped a folded piece of paper out of a hidden pocket with that nimble-fingered ease Auron recognized as Rikku's style. "Give this to Nhadala when you see her, and she'll show you around. Oh, and you may find this of more use than us." He passed over a Garment Grid. "Not really my taste." He winked at Auron, then stopped in his tracks, mouth hanging open in Paine's direction. "You!"

"Paine," said Paine. "Nice to meet you."

"Uh-huh?" said Gippal, clearly confused.

Auron shot Rikku a look, and met hers coming the other way.

"You were showing us around?" said Paine.

"…Right." Gippal re-addressed himself to Rikku, showing her a vibrating machine with pincer scooping claws. He moved on into one of the two temple rooms where a couple of Al Bhed crouched, tinkering with a larger disassembled machine. "Well, since the temple was falling apart we moved in here as our research laboratory, to work on remodeling and modifying machines previously excavated as well as those we're excavating on an ongoing basis in the desert. That's where our candidates we're interviewing come in—we need a lot of extra hands to comb the desert, and as you know the desert's not exactly a picnic for digging in. We're hoping to eventually develop our own unique machines based on what we learn from restoring and modifying what we find."

He asked the Al Bhed to share the technical details of their work. Auron understood the language, but not the mechanical terms. Rikku quickly got absorbed in rapid speech with them, hunkering down to prod at components and wires until she was greasy to the elbows.

"See? You're a natural!" said Gippal. "Really consider consulting with us sometime. You have a lot of gifts to offer, more than just fighting fiends and hunting spheres."

Rikku stood up, narrowing her eyes at him. "I know when I'm being played, Gippal. _Ramm_, I taught you how!"

He laughed, lifting his hands. "Okay, okay, you caught me. I'm sort of hoping that if you find any spheres having to do with machines along your travels you'll consider donating them to us, in addition to your knowledge. Believe it or not, I regret the way things ended between us. It was a hard lesson for me to learn." He passed her a rag with black machine oil stains on it.

"Ha!" She snorted, wiping her hands. "You don't fool me. You haven't changed a bit!"

He put his head on one side, chin in hand, cupping his elbow. "_You_ have." He released his pose. "Well, think it over. My door's always open… to you." He turned and walked back into the other ground-floor room. She stared after him.

"I don't trust that guy one bit," she said. "He always turns on the charm when he wants something."

"Well," said Yuna, "at least we've got his clearance to go dig in Bikanel!" She punched the air. "I hear they're finding all sorts of treasure there!"

Rikku's frown cleared into a smile at her cousin's enthusiasm. "Roger that!"

* * *

"Water," said Auron, as they prepared on the Celsius for their desert trip. "Lots of water. And no hiding sake in your water bottle," he added to Rikku, who took a swing at him. She stuck her tongue out. "Make that bottles, plural. Carry as much as you can."

"I know the way," said Rikku. "I was born there!"

"We're taking water," said Auron.

"I think we'd better humor him, Rikku," said Paine.

"Yeah, who knows? He might abandon us to our fate if we don't do what the great Sir Auron commands!" teased Yuna.

Auron rolled his eyes. "Not you too, _Lady_ Yuna. I'll make you a deal: no Sir Auron, no Lady Yuna, just four friends and a _lot_ of water, got it?"

"All right, already! If it'll shut you up I'll take enough water for us to go surfing!" said Rikku.

* * *

"Lost?" Auron said to Rikku, sipping pointedly from his canteen.

"No. Shut up," she said.

"Uh, Rikku? Are we in trouble?" said Yuna.

"Of course not," said Auron. "She was born here."

Rikku glared bloody murder at him. Their shoes filled with sand. Canteens and jugs gradually emptied. Tempers and temperatures fried.

"Oh, hey! I see someone!" Yuna cried at last, and waved to a spark of light on a distant dune. "Hey! Heeeeey! Over here! Heeeeeey! Help!"

Rikku said nothing, apparently too tired or frustrated to speak. A fansled approached at a dreadfully slow crawl but at last arrived to pick them up. Auron chatted to the two Al Bhed since Rikku remained wordless. They got a ride to base camp.

"They had to move the base camp because of a sandstorm," Auron said over the roar of the fan, sitting down next to Rikku. "We could have looked forever and never found it. We were right near where it had been when they picked us up, trying to salvage some equipment they couldn't account for when they set up the new camp." He put an arm around her, gently in case she hit him again. "You were right, and I'm sorry I teased you."

She didn't respond for a while, and then as the fan slowed she turned to him and shouted, "What was that? I don't think I heard that last bit!" She cupped a hand theatrically to her ear.

"YOU WERE RIGHT!" Auron shouted at the top of his lungs in order to be heard by everyone, including the driver. "I WAS WRONG. OH RIKKU THE GREAT, WILL YOU PLEASE FORGIVE ME?" This last was unbelievably loud because the engine cut off halfway through. Auron stole a glance around. A whole crowd of Al Bhed, frozen among the tents in the base camp in the act of unpacking, stared impassively from behind mirrored goggles.

Rikku cackled and threw her arms around him. "Well, since you asked so nice!" She kissed his cheek. "…I'll let you off the hook this time." She scrambled up, using his thigh as a foothold, and jumped off the fansled. Auron, chuckling to himself, followed. Yuna hid her giggling face in her hands. Even Paine looked bemused.

A second sled parked beside the first and a yellow-haired Al Bhed woman jumped off.

"Cra'c pylg!" someone shouted.

Nhadala strode into camp, receiving an urgent, low report from another Al Bhed. "Y cduns? E ryda cdunsc," she sighed. As the Gullwings approached Nhadala looked harassed. "I'm busy, so make it fast, okay? I've got lots to excavate and no one to do it."

Rikku produced Gippal's letter.

"Oh, so _you're_ the new guys!" said Nhadala, looking them over again.

"Nice to meet you!" said Yuna.

"Things do seem more active than last time we were here," said Auron.

"Oh… right. You were here before," said Nhadala. "Well, don't be expecting any special treatment just because you're the High Summoner and the Legendary Guardian."

"Right!" said Yuna.

They replenished their water at Auron's insistence before going out again. Rikku jumped on his back and this time he carried her out into the sand a ways, before tossing her to the ground and shoving his sword in the sand.

He transformed into the Thief dressphere to try to get into something less hot. Rikku shrieked with laughter, pointing. Yuna and Paine pounded over the dune and stopped, shocked. Auron looked down at himself.

He could already tell it was not any less all-covering than Warrior. In fact compared with how it wore on the girls it was downright prudish. Black leggings ended in sensible brown boots, a high-collared half-sleeve dark blue jacket, a white shirt, twin daggers, and a strip of wild-pattered patchwork cloth wrapped his head so many times it was almost a bandanna. The unfortunate part was that the jacket dripped with jewels and embroidery and the shirt was a froth of ruffles, to say nothing of the jeweled necklace. He felt like a burly warrior squeezed into the costume of a poncy effeminate man.

He regarded the earring he'd tugged out of his ear, a tiny chandelier of obviously fake diamonds. "How is this in any way supposed to be the costume of a male thief?"

"Where's a sphere?! Someone get me a sphere, quick!" cried Rikku. "We have to record this!"

"Oh, Auron, you can't even see the best part!" said Yuna. "Paine, do you have a… oh, good!"

Auron turned right into the lens of a sphere recorder Paine wielded at him, an actual smile on her lips as she peered into it.

"Smile for the camera," said Paine.

"Paine, you are the _best_! I owe you one!" said Rikku.

Auron came over. "Turn that off and let me see." He closed his hand over the lens, ending her fun. The four clustered close to see how the video had turned out.

At first Auron thought the sunlight had washed out the camera's color. Then, slowly, he reached up to rub his cheek and pulled his hand down. He found thick white makeup smudged on his fingers. The girls, at his horrified expression, fell about in fresh laughter.

"It's the purple lipstick!" Rikku shrieked. "That's my _favorite_ part!"

"You must have switched my Thief dressphere for Clown," said Auron, removing the sphere from the recorder. Rikku dove at him, seeing he intended to destroy it. He held it up out of her grasp, grinning at her. Someone behind him snatched it out of his fingers. He whirled in time to see Paine toss it to Yuna, who hid it behind her back.

He approached her, hand out. "Yuna."

"Mm-mm," said Yuna. "You'll have to _steal_ it from me to get it back."

He sighed, and instead transformed back into Warrior. "I'll stick with what I know." He vowed to buy a mirror the first chance he got and carefully test out every dressphere in private in his cabin.

Still, it was nice to see Paine laugh. And her smile lingered as she dug beside him for the rest of the day.

* * *

When they returned to the Celsius Paine cornered Auron, blocking the door to his room with her boot. "How about another fashion show?"

"Not a chance," he said.

"I can pay," she said. "We cleaned up in the desert."

"You cannot afford me," he said.

"Then how about more tossing practice?"

"Deal," he said, and from the smile she tried to hide he suspected that's what she'd really wanted all along.


	8. Still As a Memory

Auron's words, never particularly prolific, subsided entirely. So did Rikku's as they followed the trail through the woods among the flow of sightseers and travelers, once such a rare sight in Spira. Yuna got extra-cheerful at the end of battles. Even Paine, possibly out of embarrassment at the silence, spoke up to answer Yuna.

Around a last bend, they stepped out of the trees, into the reflected sunset light of the Moonflow. Auron stopped to take it in. Rikku went right to the edge of the water and squatted down, wrapping her arms around her legs.

"Is… she okay?" said Yuna.

Auron nodded. "Give us a minute." He approached Rikku and seated himself by the water, arm resting on one knee. They sat in silence, looking out at the water. He saw across twelve years:

_ "I said I was sorry!" Jecht snapped, stewing on the ground in his own anger while Auron ran the sphere recorder. "That's it. Only thing I drink from now on is shoopuf milk!"_

_ "You're sure?" said Braska._

_ "We're on a journey to fight Sin and save Spira, right?" said Jecht, the heat of anger departing his voice. "If I keep screwin' up… and… making a fool of myself… my wife and kid are never gonna forgive me."_

_ Auron nodded. "That's on the record." He shut off the camera as Jecht rose. He heard a rustle, then Jecht darted forward and thrust an arm into the bushes. He dragged out a young blond girl, just a slip of a thing, who had obviously been spying on them._

_ Auron didn't have time to react before the girl had grabbed Jecht's arm and thrown him down on the sandy ground. The tableau froze for a moment, girl staring at her startled victim, both panting. She let go and backed up, looking shocked._

_ Jecht coughed, sat up, laughed ruefully. "Damn, she packs a wallop!"_

_ The girl glanced from man to man among them, looking utterly dumbfounded, as if they were perhaps the first people she had ever seen. Clearly not, though, from what she said: "I… I… I'm sorry… Lord Summoner. I'm sorry, Sir Jecht."_

_ "Hey, she knows who I am, too!" Jecht grinned at her. "Followed us, did you?"_

_ "I… no! I heard you talking, and I wasn't sure who you were. I didn't mean to intrude," she said._

_ Auron approached her side. "You sure you weren't spying on us? The Al Bhed aren't very supportive of what we're doing."_

_ Even though it wasn't the first time she'd looked at him, it was the time he ever after remembered the strongest—every nuance and detail of how she turned and looked up at him, his surprise as green swirls of Al Bhed eyes met his. A look of something like fear crossed her face, and then she straightened, setting her jaw defiantly._

_ "No, Sir Auron, I was not. A girl can't be too careful around here, Al Bhed or no," she said. "What's the harm in checking to make sure three unknown male voices aren't thieves—or worse, out crusading for Al Bhed blood?"_

Auron opened his left hand. After a moment Rikku's hand clasped his. Their fingers laced.

_"…Don't even start with me, monk-man. I respect your pilgrimage. I think you're doing this for the good of Spira. That's what I'm interested in too. Can't we just be friends?"_

"Yes," Auron replied, in the present, snapping himself back to reality. He felt Rikku turn and look at him. He shifted his gaze to her—older nowhere more clearly than in those green swirled irises.

"We first met here," she said. "Twice. You met me twelve years ago, and I met you two years ago."

"I remember," he said. "I was thinking of the first time. For me, that is."

"What did you say, when Lord Braska first mentioned the possibility of me becoming his third guardian?" she said.

He snorted. "I said that if you were crazy enough to tell him yes and join us, your powers would make our journey considerably more speedy. I still had a stick up my _ycc_ at this point, remember, and I thought you were altogether too chipper for such a solemn journey. But Jecht had been getting on my nerves for some time before you got there, so they were already raw."

"Mm."

"Rikku… before…"

She cocked her head.

He sighed. "I got used to not asking, for fear of you running off angry and not seeing you for hours or even days on end."

"You can ask, now." She squeezed his hand. "It's all right."

"What was I like, before you went back in time? When you first met me here—before you changed the past—what did I say?"

"Um… you made me look up so you could see my eyes. And then you said, 'You are sure?' And at that point I was so intimidated by you, and so scared you'd out me as an Al Bhed, and Yuna was looking to you for permission—like you were in charge. And in a sense you were. When you laid down the law, we all did what you said, no argument. You'd done all this pilgrimage stuff before."

"Hmph. Hard to imagine you taking orders from me." He paused. "Or anyone. I'm having difficulty picturing you intimidated by me. It seems more likely you would lay me out, as you did Jecht."

She sighed and squinted out at the water. She nodded. "Yeah… A lot changed for me in Zanarkand. I mean… I mean the… the first time. For me." She rubbed her eyes, obviously trying to focus through a snarled and twisty past. "When Yuna and us guardians first found out what Sin was, and killed Yunalesca rather than receive the Final Summoning—while we were going through Zanarkand temple, I saw memories of you and Jecht and Braska." She blinked rapidly. "When we were in Yunalesca's chamber, when…"

He let go of her hand and put an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him, leaking tears helplessly.

"I don't think I really got it, not consciously. Because I just refused to let myself believe that you might be unsent, like the Yevon maesters." She gasped in a breath. "But then… there was that day… oh, that day… I got so _mad_!" She bunched her hands into fists, shaking her head where it burrowed into his chest. "I saw you drinking in the cabin on the airship, and pyreflies all around you, and I felt like you looked right through me, behind those sunglasses you always wore—that scar across your right eye—that high-necked collar. Things you can't remember, because _you've_ never had them. I got so angry I couldn't hold it all in anymore. All I knew was I wanted to murder everything. So I took off. I said something to dad about just going off and getting my Godhand unlocked and killing things, and had him drop me in the Calm Lands, and went to town on anything and everything in front of me.

"And when I got to Yunalesca's chamber that second time, that's when it all clicked… that that's where you had died. That day, ten years ago, after Braska defeated Sin. I remembered again the memory I'd seen and how angry you were when you attacked Yunalesca. I wanted her alive again so I could kill her again. But more than anything I wanted _you_ alive again! I hated you so much right then, hated you, _hated you, Auron_!"

She turned her head, gasping, to get some air. He simply held her.

"I hated you so much," she said, and laughed sharply, "hated you so much I had to go back in time ten years and kick your _ycc_ before Yunalesca could laminate the floor with it."

"And kick it you did. Repeatedly," he said.

She laughed again, but with a hitch in it. "Yeah."

"You had to, in those days. To get me off my shoopuf, looking down on everyone who wasn't Braska." He kissed her forehead. "And I'm glad you did, or I wouldn't be here now."

"I'm glad you never stopped tracking me down, no matter how many times I up and vanished on you, or I wouldn't be here now, at least twice over."

They shared a sigh.

"I miss them," she said.

"So do I," he said.

"What's Yunie gonna do if we don't find him?" she said. "She doesn't talk about it much, but I can tell she's thinking about it. She seems happy, but… what if we don't find him, Auron? I'm really scared for her. I'm her closest friend now that Lulu and Wakka have kind of fallen into domestic thrall, but she doesn't talk to me like you talk to me, or like I talk to you."

"You and she haven't had quite our history."

She laughed. "No one has. …But I'm serious, Auron." She looked up at him.

"Yuna's stronger than us. Both of us. She made a peace with death neither of us ever did, for the good of Spira, and went forth a willing sacrifice. You and I, when our times come, will go down kicking and screaming and punching and biting."

"Blowing up stuff."

"Swearing in Al Bhed."

"Taking as many _pycdyntc_ down as we can when we go."

"No dignified death for either of us, I feel." He paused. "Did I seem at peace with death in that… other… time? When I was dead?"

She frowned thoughtfully. "I guess not, considering all the drinking and sulking. And you resisted being sent for ten years and for all I know intended to go on being unsent for all eternity."

"Hmph. Yeah, I can imagine." He paused. "I know you're worried about her. I'm worried it will hurt her if we don't find him, but I'm not worried she won't be able to handle it. You, on the other hand… how would you feel?"

"Really sad." She heaved a groaning sigh. "I don't want to get my hopes up, not again, but I do anyway. I don't want to get as single-minded as I did when I was trying to bring both him and Jecht back by becoming a fayth."

He shuddered. "No, please. Talk to me if you feel it's getting too intense and I'll whack some sense into you. I'm getting to old too run off saving your life all the time anyway."

"Same here." She stretched out a boot and splashed it in the water. Pyreflies clustered among the moon lilies as the sun disappeared beyond the horizon. "This is nice, just sitting still for a while."

"Mm."

"I don't think I've been still for more than five minutes in the last two years. Always running after something, or from something."

"Sounds exhausting."

"You would know, you were following me."

"I suppose."

"Because you wanted to, or because you felt you owed me? How long had you known why I went back?"

"I didn't know for sure until that… day on Mount Gagazet, when I told you to take my life since it belonged to you anyway. But I suspected. I spent a lot of time thinking for ten years, figuring out mysteries, and it's a tough habit to break. I'm an inquisitive _pycdynt_ and I'm not good at stopping once I am _ramm-pahd_ on something. I thought about what would have been different, on Braska's pilgrimage, if you had not been there. Jecht and Braska would have died anyway, but… when I went in to kill Yunalesca in a rage… I was no match for her. And I remembered how angry you were at me when I went to attack her, and at her. When you talk about how angry you were, when you saw me unsent, it reminds me of how I felt that day. Helpless. Enraged. Willing to risk my life to vent that rage. And that's what you did—you took a potentially fatal potion so a fayth would send you back in time."

"That's about the size of it."

"And so…" He shuddered again. "It didn't seem that strange to you to do it again, with all that pain you were carrying around, to try to become a fayth and change the impossible again."

"…I still… wonder… if it would have worked."

"_Please _don't. Do not even think about it, Rikku. Please. For me. Let us look to the future. It's so calm. Eternally. Let's just sit here."

They sat and watched the Moonflow light up with pyreflies like the night sky, churning and moving among the lilies, while the sky itself lay like a scattering of living dust overhead.

"Maybe a treehouse," she said.

"Hm?" he said.

"A treehouse. There's not enough room to build on this tiny strip of land and I don't want to cut down trees. Maybe I could build a house in them instead. But then I'd worry about the kids just wandering off the edge of it as soon as they're old enough to crawl."

"What kids?"

She shrugged. "Well, I always thought I'd have kids. Lots of them, so they'd have plenty of brothers and sisters to choose from. I only had the one, and he can be a pain in the _ycc_ sometimes. I don't think he understands me and I _know_ I don't understand him." She looked up at him. "Do you think you'd ever settle down and start a family? Or are you an eternal loner?"

"Would an eternal loner be wandering Spira with you and Yuna and Paine? I'd think it would be more grating than sawing on harpstrings with a rusty steak knife, if I was a true loner."

"Way to evade the question, _sunuh_."

"_Huco pnyd_." He scrubbed at her braids and she shoved him off. He laughed.

"Be _serious_!"

"Be _serious_!" he mocked her in falsetto.

She furled her arms around her legs and shoved her chin down between them, glaring out at the Moonflow.

"Thought about who's going to be sharing your treehouse, other than your spawn?" he said. "They have to come from somewhere, unless you know how to asexually reproduce. Which is a horrific thought." After a minute he nudged her, and then nudged her again, harder.

"I'm not talking to you."

"Clearly you are."

"All right, then, maybe Kimahri. He knows when to shut up. And he'd probably let me braid his hair when I'm too pregnant to get out of bed and going out of my mind with boredom."

He stood up suddenly and paced, wondering why the thought of her pregnant unnerved him so.

Outside of their reverie, he finally realized the whole bank and surrounding trees had a large number of couples snuggling and snogging. He felt a pit open up at the bottom of his stomach, watching them, hands and lips and bodies moving. He turned back to look out at the Moonflow, determined to wipe the images threatening to rise from his mind, images of a pregnant, smiling Rikku, reaching out a hand…

Her hand touched his and he started.

"Jeez, Auron, jumpy?" She folded her arms. "Well, another day absolutely slain by the Gullwings. I wonder where Paine and Yuna got to. I guess we bored them crazy. I'm starting to feel restless myself."

"No treehouse for you today?" His laugh sounded forced to him.

"No." She sighed. "No, I think this was long enough. I gotta start slow with this stillness thing, or it'll never work, and I'll be diving out of that treehouse myself, down into the water, and who knows where I'll come up?" She turned and headed off back down the path. He moseyed after her, not eager to be left behind at what Spira apparently considered 'lovers' point.'


	9. Nothing But Night

Rikku approached Yuna where she stood by the shore of a secluded pond in Macalania Woods. Rikku stopped, hesitated, then turned to go.

"Wait," said Yuna, turning.

"I didn't mean to bother you," said Rikku.

"You're not bothering me." Yuna paused. "Where are Auron and Paine?"

"Er… practicing somewhere. Probably." Rikku chewed the inside of her lip. She didn't like saying it, and liked thinking it even less. The past few days, since the Moonflow, Auron had been spending a lot of time showing Paine sword moves, and practicing tosses. Rikku couldn't stand to be around it. She wasn't sure whether he was distancing herself from her, or she was distancing herself from him. It felt prickly and she tried to busy herself killing fiends and leveling up dresspheres, as was her habit in not-dealing with things she didn't want to deal with.

"Good," said Yuna.

"What?" said Rikku, startled.

"I wanted you all to myself." Yuna stretched out her hands to clasp Rikku's. "It seems like you've always got Auron around, and the two of you are so… well… thick as thieves, that it doesn't seem right to intrude." She sighed and looked around. "Nice here, isn't it?"

"Well, maybe. Kinda dark." Rikku looked around. "And boring."

Yuna laughed. "I like that you don't mince words." She looked out at the stars reflected in the water. "We came here, he and I, before we went to the Calm Lands. We talked for a while and then… we didn't."

Rikku flushed, glancing from the surroundings to Yuna, who seemed years away. She abruptly returned, and smiled at Rikku.

"Are you… scared we won't find him?" said Rikku.

Yuna nodded. "But… I'll still be glad you came and got me out of myself. I'm having so much fun, and I never thought if could be this fun—my life. I wasn't supposed to be alive anymore now, either killed by Sin or by the Final Summoning. All this is grace time. Now I'm getting to see what life is really like. And I'm glad…" Yuna giggled. "I'm glad I've got you and Auron to teach me! You guys really know how to live."

Rikku stared at her.

"Well, you do. This is more fun than I thought. Wakka and Lulu… I don't think they understand sphere hunting, and I sort of agreed with them, because I didn't realize how much fun it could be to travel across Spira. I guess I still compared it with how the last journey ended. And how it nearly ended."

"…Yeah." Rikku looked out at the trees.

"I miss him every day. I think of him every day. The first time I really traveled, he was there from the first moment I left the Chamber of the Fayth in Besaid. Everywhere I go, I can almost see him, and I think that if I turned my head really fast…" Yuna did so, snapping her neck around and startling Rikku. "And then… I don't. But every time I go somewhere I remember that the last time I stood in each place, I thought it would be the last time I ever saw it, and I was going to die soon. I don't know, it makes me feel giddy sometimes, how I was so sure I was going to die, and die so that others could live, and then didn't. Like almost falling down, and catching myself at the last second—but instead of just falling down to the ground, I would have been falling forever. …I'm sorry, was… was it something I said?"

Rikku hadn't realized she was crying until Yuna looked concerned. Rikku scrubbed her face, irritated.

"Sorry," mumbled Rikku.

"No, I'm sorry. We should be talking about happy things! This is a happy journey. Not like the last one. It would be wonderful if he was at the end of it, but… well… I know you and Auron will be there, and Paine too." Yuna put an arm around Rikku and leaned her forehead against her cousin's. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Rikku. I'm so glad you're still here."

"Yuna, I…"

"Yes?"

"I… I hope we find him." Rikku hugged her cousin fiercely. "I really, really hope we do."

"Hey, okay. Wow, I think you may be even more determined than I am! I'm fine, Rikku, really." Yuna pulled away to wipe Rikku's face. "I really, truly am. I'm happy to be here with you, and to be able to tell you this story, and know you understand… missing someone. And wanting to see them just once more. If there's ever any stories you want to tell me, even if they're not happy, I'll listen, okay?"

"You're right." Rikku clutched her head and shook it vigorously as if trying to fling the tearful parts out. "I've got to stop being sad!"

Yuna laughed. "Wanna sing with me? Just the two of us, no clamoring audience wanting to see High Summoner Yuna and Guardian-Summoner Rikku, just a couple of cousins alone with our dresspheres?"

"Hey, yeah! That's a great idea!"

Yuna giggled. "When we get tired of sphere hunting, we should totally form a band! And call it 'YARP'!"

Rikku groaned on cue, and Yuna's laughter echoed off the trees.

* * *

Rolling, punching the pillow, rearranging the blankets, nothing helped. Rikku truly could not sleep. Paine and Yuna slept the sleep of the just. Rikku got out of bed. She paused for a moment to look at Paine's innocently sleeping face. That face had been laughing and smiling as she and Auron practiced moves on frozen Lake Macalania that Rikku and Auron had invented, while Yuna talked to O'aka and persuaded him to take refuge on the Celsius.

Now O'aka snored on the far end of the bunks, but it didn't seem to be that which was keeping Rikku awake. Auron could snore a house down. She'd become inured through two years traveling and sharing rooms with him. She could hear his distinct snort-chuff now, even through the floor which was the ceiling of his cramped private cabin. She padded out of the cabin to the lift, which she rode up to the top deck of the Celsius.

The night sky unrolled above her, clouds gauzing the stars. She looked up at them, arms folded.

"You know," she said aloud, "I figured out when I was still pretty young that my pop didn't know everything and wasn't the best person to go to for advice." She snorted. "And certainly not now. In fact the only person I can really think of that I'd want to talk to about this is you, not him. What would you say to me, Lord Braska?"

She squeezed her eyes shut tight. She dragged her memory for his voice. It frightened her that it was slipping away, after only two years. She had to go dig through Yuna's sphere collection—surely she'd kept the spheres they'd gathered on her pilgrimage of Jecht, Braska, and Auron.

"You were my uncle," she whispered. "And you never even knew. I never got to tell you. And I never got to tell you how much it meant to me that you were there, when I went back in time, and all the anger wore off and I didn't know what to do. I just followed you, like I'd followed your daughter before you." She laughed, startling her own eyes open. "…Ten years later."

She sat down on the deck and leaned back on her palms, looking up at the dizzying stars, and finally stretched out on the deck, watching them.

"I never figured out a way I might bring you back," she said. "I'm sorry about that. I guess I kind of wondered if I might be able to dream you back in when I dreamed up Jecht and Tidus again, as a fayth. But I think you'd have been really upset about that, even if it meant you got to see Yuna again—but it wouldn't really be you, it'd be my memories of you, anyway." She sighed. "That's all I have of you anymore. I remember once when memories were enough for me. Even of my mom. So much changed in the past couple of years. It's been hard to handle. I couldn't talk to Yuna about it, she was dealing with her own stuff, and… well… I should have talked to Auron, but the very thought of it hurt, when every time I looked at him I remembered him being dead. I didn't think he'd ever understand what even I couldn't. I thought the memories would go away, and with it all the bad feelings building up inside.

"It's better now that I'm talking to him again. Well, some times are better than others. But I'm getting on with life again, you know? And it's tough sometimes remembering how to live like I mean it, like Yuna's trying to do. I know she said I'm teaching her, but really she's learning on her own, and teaching me. Because all it seemed like I knew how to do was get really angry and almost kill myself trying to bring people back from the dead.

"I'm scared how close I came. I'm scared every time I get upset now, too, scared that it'll go that far again. I actually wanted to kill myself to bring back Jecht and Tidus, because I was out of my mind on grief and nightmares. What if that happens again, and I don't realize what's happening—again?

"I don't want to worry Yuna, and I know Auron tells me to just not think about it. And that helps, it does. A lot of the time I don't think about it. But when I look at Yuna and I see her thinking about him, I sometimes can't help imagining a world where he's already there beside her, instead of me.

"I'm starting to think Auron could have gotten over it if I'd gone through with it, too. He and Paine are getting on like a house on fire. She's just enough like him, or like he used to be, for them to have that in common, and he's just enough different to keep them from turning into a world-class sulk fest. Hard to imagine a friendship where Auron's the gregarious one, I know, lord."

She laughed a little to herself. "I wonder if you'd object as strongly to me calling you 'Lord' as Yuna does to people calling her 'Lady' these days, and Auron to people calling him 'Legendary Guardian.' Makes me glad nobody knows who I am."

She pulled her knees up to her chest, lying on her back, and kept smiling at the stars. At last she sighed.

"Good talk, uncle," she said. "We should do it again sometime. I'm going to bed, and you should probably rest, too, seeing as how you're…" she yawned hugely, "dead, and not even really here at all. G'night, Uncle Braska."

The wind shifted directions abruptly as she got on the elevator, whipping her braids around in a frenzy, and in the midst of it she felt like something warm brushed her shoulder, a hand, a bit of skin, and a voice carried in the wind.

She whipped around and saw nothing but night.

"Definitely bedtime," she decided.


	10. Because I Learned it From You

Auron noticed none of them wore smiles in Bevelle. He knew some of the memories he and Yuna and Rikku were walking into, and as ever had no clue what was in Paine's discomfort, despite all the time he'd been spending with her. He felt so odd in himself and it took him a quiet while before he realized he hadn't been in Bevelle without wearing the robes of a Yevon monk since the first day he became an acolyte.

As soon as he thought it, he realized aloud, "There's… somewhere I need to go. Alone."

The three young women looked at him in surprise, but Yuna nodded.

"Leave without me if need be," said Auron.

"You sure?" said Rikku. "I don't mind waiting."

Auron paused, looking at her. She gave him a genuine smile, with fondness in her eyes.

He smiled back. "I won't be long."

He headed swiftly for the monks' abbey, a path he could have walked in his sleep. As he walked it the years seemed to melt away from him. Down from the towers, across a plaza, to the squat brown boxy complex, so spare against the curved reds and golds and whites of the rest of the biggest city on Spira.

Huge earthenware blocks piled into what seemed more like a tomb than a place of worship, with high barred windows to blot out all but the most regimented of light. He found the door standing open. A group of young men and women looked up from where they knelt on the floor, on top of a huge sheet of paper weighted down at the edges with lanterns. Monkeys kept crawling on it.

"Can we help you?" said a short woman with chopped hair.

"I… used to live here," said Auron. "Tell me—what became of the order of Yevon monks?"

"Left," said a young man. "Except for Cronos. He says he doesn't care what we do with the building as long as we leave the Star Dojo. He sleeps there most nights, I hear."

"Cronos," said Auron. "Still here?" He shook his head and left the group, picking around the monkeys and their droppings to head for the Star Dojo.

Blocky walls gave way to glass covered with squares of telescoping metal, that could be opened or closed to any aperture. Light coming through them, and the similar ceiling, made multi-pointed star patterns everywhere. Only the highest-ranking monks were allowed in, once. Auron, of course, had snuck in the first chance he got, and had only gotten caught and reprimanded twice.

His partner in crime had been an older novice, the most reprimanded student to have not been expelled—Cronos.

Auron had snuck in, sidled in, crawled in through hatches and servants' entrances and disguised as a sweeper, but he'd never bold-as-brass strode in through the main doors, wearing heathen clothing, no less. His boots and buckles echoed in the cavernous room.

"The answer is still no," said Cronos, not looking up from a stack of books on his desk. His pen scratched on the paper. He'd been balding, according to him, practically since he was old enough for all his hair to come in; in his teens it was clear he would be hairless by mid-forties, as he now was. His red robe remained immaculate, even if there was dust everywhere else in the room, including on the musty sleeproll on the floor. "I already arranged it with the praetor. Don't worry, I should be dead in about fifty years, and then you can smash this room up and make something ridiculous in its place for whatever you're calling New Yevon at that point. Maybe New New New New New New New New Yevon."

"Maybe they will call it 'Cronos,'" said Auron, and Cronos's shiny head snapped up in the star-patterned light, "since they tend to name it after someone who won't give up the ghost."

"Auron, you old son of a shoopuf! I hardly recognized you!" Cronos shoved his ornate tattered velvet chair back with a scrape across the wooden floor and sauntered over in his lackadaisical way. He clapped Auron on the back. "What in Spira's name are you doing here, man?"

"I could ask you the same thing," said Auron. "Of all the people to be left hanging on to this order, you are the last one I expected to see."

Cronos tapped the side of his nose, grinning slyly. "I'm here so they don't do it again, see? I'm here to remind New Yevon not to become old Yevon, to be the one annoying tenured man they don't have the heart to turn out, who won't let them stray back to the narrow and righteous path of too much power. I'm here to ask the uncomfortable questions and start the unwanted arguments."

"Devil's advocate, then. Same as always," said Auron.

Cronos nodded. "And I'm too smart for them to get rid of me. It's not just that I know where the bodies are buried—I know how everything works, and that's more than I can say for anyone who got left alive in Yevon's leadership. If not for me there'd be no New Yevon, only a bunch of infighting sects and a city in chaos. I'm the only one who thought of all the civic shit that needs doing, the food, the utilities, emergency services, support staff, wages, all paid out of Yevon's coffers. Kill Yevon and Bevelle would fall, and all its people lose everything and wander the world starving and homeless. And ruin the economy besides."

"So then what does the Praetor do?"

"Public relations. Acts like he knows what he's doing, which you know I was never good at. I see two sides to everything. The Praetor shows the public only one, and it's the one I vehemently advise him to."

"You're running New Yevon."

"Not really. I'm making sure no one forgets all the people who depend on Yevon's infrastructure for their lives. If that's what you call running things, okay, but from the inside, nothing's what I'd call 'running'—mostly just failing to go spectacularly wrong all at once on an ongoing basis. But I digress. What the hell are you doing here? Come to kill me?"

"Why would I do that?"

"Why not? You have even more reason to hate the old order than I do."

"I always thought you loved to hate it and hated to love it."

"True, true."

"Anyway it sounds like there is no order, not even you."

Cronos cackled. "Only way I could get my way is for everyone else to be gone, and that's never what I wanted anyway."

"No. You wouldn't be satisfied if you weren't fighting someone. I think that is why I liked you so much."

"You liked me because I was the only other one here with brains, who wasn't acting like a machine being programmed. And… you still haven't answered my question, and I've got more weapons on me than you might think."

"I wanted to remember. I've been… avoiding this place. Avoiding these memories. After Braska defeated Sin a lot of my beliefs were shattered, and I didn't really belong here anymore."

Cronos grunted. "Hear you were still wearing the uniform, though. Ten years, was it?"

"Twelve. Habit, I suppose."

"Was it?"

Auron was silent.

"Do you know why Master Teaken kept me on in the order even though all the other monks pleaded, begged, cajoled, demanded I be expelled?"

"Teaken was like that."

"Oh, old Teaken was pretty traditional in a lot of surprising ways, and obeying the precepts I broke as a matter of habit before breakfast was one of them. He kept me because he knew that in order for the order to survive as something more than just a mindless division of Yevon's security forces, it had to have someone in it to jam up the works again and again, to break things so they could be put back together better, differently at least, and stronger, so they'd be less liable to break again. Someone to test all the limits and find out where they really lie. He had high hopes for you, Auron, but you could never see past your anger when it had hold of you. You were stubborn in ways that weren't the best. So he settled for me, with all my disrespect for the rules. Otherwise he would have put you on the fast track to Master of the Order, and you would never have been allowed to go out on a pilgrimage."

"He tried to forbid me. Said I wasn't qualified."

"And what was your response?"

"Stormed out and went anyway."

Cronos laughed. "And you think he didn't know you would? I believe, from the conversations we had, he hoped the pilgrimage would knock off your sharp edges. Instead I think it… sharpened them. Good thing, though, because you had a much bigger battle to fight, and not one I could have done."

"He… intended for me to go? To fight Sin?"

"Yes."

"Did he know what I would find? Did you?"

"Not I. Can you imagine what I would have done with the information? I would have turned the Crusaders and the Al Bhed against Yevon. And I would have been young enough to think I could do it, and probably would have succeeded. And then Sin would still be here."

"You really think so?"

"It's my considered opinion."

Auron glanced at all the shelves and shelves of books lining the walls of the dojo. It looked like the whole of Bevelle's paper Yevon library had been moved into this room. Cronos had read most if not all of them, Auron knew. It's what he'd done instead of his monk training, instead of bushido and prayer and meditation and hypnotic gong-ringing.

Cronos's considered opinion was well-considered, in Auron's considered opinion.

"Sometimes you just don't know when to let go," said Cronos. "And sometimes that's your strength. And sometimes it's the thorn in your side."

"You think I couldn't let this place go?" said Auron.

"I think there was something you couldn't let go. You didn't want all this to be for nothing. And it isn't. You don't need clothes to tell you that."

"Thanks," Auron said sarcastically. "Any more unasked-for cultured pearls of wisdom you care to regurgitate in my direction?"

"Just a question."

"All right, let's have it."

"You found something else to hold on to. What is it? I'm insanely jealous."

Auron frowned, and let his eyes rove over the dojo. The way the light fell, the apertures, were so close to what they'd been the second day he was caught. It seemed like Master Teaken had been waiting for him, sitting on a mat with the light shining on his white thick beard that stood out like a ruff.

_"You must control your temper,"_ Teaken had chided the hot-headed young Auron. _"Don't let it control you or it will become your doom. You have to recognize when you're becoming angry, stop, and start over. However much you learn or accomplish in your life, Auron, it dissolves when anger overcomes your training. You must never become so self-assured that you cannot return to your starting point when you fail."_

"Teaken told me to return to my starting point when I fail," said Auron. "And so I have, over and over again, but I've never actually physically come back here."

"How have you failed?" said Cronos. "You defeated Sin, twice—including the final time."

"Yes. But I failed in many other ways, before, during, after. In my mind I came back here, but I never quite wanted to come here, before now."

"Mm? What changed?"

"I did." Auron folded his arms. "I'm not the same man anymore. Spira is a completely different world to me now. I am in it, but not of it, and I look back on the man I was and I would not have two words to say to him now. But there was hope for him. And Teaken wasn't the only one who saw it."

"No, indeed. Braska wanted you for his guardian, and he was just as stubborn as you when he needed to be."

Auron nodded. "Do you know he had three guardians, in the end?"

"Yes."

Auron turned his steely gaze on Cronos. "Do you know what became of the third?"

Cronos's eyes danced, as if laughing. "Would it matter if I did?"

"I would wonder what you might do with that knowledge. Particularly to her."

Cronos shrugged. "Would I strip you of your new outfit for spite? Just because it's more stylish and young and invigorating than mine? Would I judge you for something that clearly fits you so well, or that you've grown into? But I wonder, at the end of the day, when you take off this new outfit, who are you on the inside, really? What is the part of you that you never take off, even when you lay down Legendary Guardian and Yevon monk and drunkard and friend and secret-keeper and fighter and man and anger? When you come to the heart of the night, what's left over?"

"What are you getting at?"

"You've been traveling for a very long time in search of something, and a great many things have found you and stuck to you—but who are you, Auron? Who are you where your name stops and your thoughts stop and in the space between each moment of awareness and the next?"

"You read too much."

Cronos laughed. "And that's the best answer I'm going to get. Is it the right one? Who cares? It made me laugh, and it's true. Shall I walk you back? Get out in the sun that has no lens on it?"

"Might help." Auron felt unnerved, almost throttled by the smell of must and dust that had been rising in his nostrils as Cronos talked. _The man has run mad,_ he thought,_ but perhaps mad is what you need to be in order to run a city when the beliefs it was built on have crumbled, and there's nothing to support it but hope and memory._

The young people in the main room scrambled to their feet and stood stock-still as Cronos passed. Cronos gave them the barest flick of his head.

"What did you do to them?" Auron murmured as they passed out into the sunlight.

"Put the fear of Cronos in 'em. Only thing that works, these days. I know more about them than even their confessors ever did," said Cronos.

"All those questions you asked me—they were really about you, were they not?" said Auron. "I told you that you should have put down the books and learned bushido. When I am practicing bushido, there is no part of me that is not doing bushido. I'm not thinking 'this is me, doing bushido,' or even 'this is bushido.' There is no thought at all."

"Sounds peaceful. And far too young an ambition for me. Someone must be thinking—always," said Cronos.

"What will you do when you run out of years? Or when someone really does come to kill you?"

"I need a replacement. Don't suppose I could interest you…?"

"_No_."

"You could make it your own."

"NO."

"Heard you've been thinking of settling down, a bit."

Auron whirled on Cronos, lifting the man up by the collar, and was about to give him a shake when he felt a knifepoint nudge his ribs. Cronos grinned down at him. Auron lowered Cronos before letting loose a chuckle.

They strolled on. Cronos nodded to some scurrying people who appeared to panic and scurry faster, from time to time.

Rikku sat alone on the rail of the highbridge, legs swinging over empty space far above the depths of the city. She slouched a little in her thoughts, but at Auron's approach she turned, sliding a leg back over the rail. Her eyes arrowed right to Cronos. She climbed off the rail, sinking down on her feet.

"Rikku, this is… an old friend of mine, Cronos," said Auron. "Cronos, my very good friend Rikku."

"Please to meetcha!" Rikku held out her hand, and Cronos took it.

"Young lady, I've heard good things about you," said Cronos.

"All lies," Rikku said cheerfully, elbowing Auron in the ribs. "I've been teaching him to lie and he's outstripped all my wildest expectations."

"High time someone taught him," said Cronos. "I'd like a private word with you, if you've a moment? Humor a mad old man."

Auron stiffened.

Rikku shrugged. "Sure. Any friend of Auron's is a friend of mine."

"Rikku," said Auron.

"She'll be fine," said Cronos. "She can take care of herself. Does he always dote on you like a mother hen?" He led her away as he said this.

"He doesn't trust you," said Rikku. "Why is that?"

"Because he's a smart man…" Cronos's voice faded away as they got a long distance down the highbridge. Only once did Rikku's peals of laughter get loud enough that Auron heard anything from either of them. He glared at the pair until they returned, Cronos beaming, Rikku looking thoughtful.

"Nice to see you again, old friend," said Cronos, clapping Auron on the back. "Don't be a stranger. You either, Rikku." Cronos waved to her before trotting back off.

Auron rounded on her. "What did he say to you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Like it's any of your business! Come on, Yuna and Paine left _ages_ ago." She dragged him by the arm toward the swirling sphere that was their departure point.

"You didn't have to wait," he said.

"I said I would."

"I told you that you didn't have to."

"Why wouldn't I? You waited for me."

He stopped her. "Rikku… it's not because I feel some obligation to you for saving my life. I'm friends with you because I want to be."

"And that's why I waited. Not because we're friends, or because I feel like I have to look after you and make sure your life stays saved, but because I want to wait for you. Anyway it wasn't all that long. You get bored and impatient almost as easy as I do."

He laughed. He laughed and laughed, so long she gave him a quizzical look and laughed in a confused, halting giggle. This dissolved to what sounded like genuine laughter at her own laughter, and what he thought of as Rikku's patented 'just for the sheer _ramm_ of it' laughter.

"Let's go have some fun, huh?" said Rikku.

"_Yes_!" said Auron. "I have had enough of Bevelle!"

"Calm Lands it is!" said Rikku.

"…What?"


	11. Force of Habit

"You cheated!"

"I did not cheat."

"You did! I've seen rigged machines in my life, and that one was definitely rigged!"

"I'm just better at Reptile Run than you, admit it."

"Yeah, when you rig the machine!"

"I don't have to stand here and listen to this." Paine walked away from her argument with Rikku, across the Calm Lands' grassy area, but didn't seem to be aiming for any of the other minigames.

"_Tysh ed_!" Rikku kicked the dirt.

"Did she really rig the machine?" hissed the anxious operator, leaning over the rope to grab at Rikku. "Can you fix it?"

"No, no!" Rikku batted off the man's hands. "I was trying to provoke her."

The man's honest brow furrowed. "Why?"

"I… you know, good question. I'm used to needling someone who used to be very much like her, and it eventually pried the stick out of his _ycc_."

"His what?"

"Never mind." She stalked off.

* * *

"Hey, sorry about earlier," Rikku said to Paine as they tramped up the path to Gagazet. "Sometimes you remind me a lot of how Auron used to be when we first met, so I forget to not respond the way I did to him. It's not fair to you for me to needle you like that when you don't like it. I'll try harder, I promise."

Paine was quiet for a while, so long they went through three battles before she sidled up to Rikku and spoke. "I really remind you so much of Auron?"

"When he was younger, yeah," said Rikku. "Always so serious."

"How long have you two been friends?" said Paine.

"Two, two and a half years," said Rikku.

"Not _much_ younger, then," said Paine.

"Oh. Oh, I mean… well, yeah." Rikku trailed off lamely.

"So there's hope for me yet?"

Rikku gave her an incredulous look. "Don't tell me you _want_ me to keep treating you like I treated Auron?"

"No. I'm different. But I like Auron. I like how he is with you and with Yuna. I think I'd like to be more like him someday."

"So why don't you do it? Nothing's stopping you."

"Force of habit. Stronger than gravity."

"Mm."

"Rikku."

"Hmm?"

"Thanks. For reaching out to me, even though I… don't talk much. And for including me in the Gullwings. For a while I wondered what you were thinking."

Rikku laughed. "Yeah, me too. But now I think it's because I'm just in the habit of finding taciturn sword-swingers with sticks up their _yccac_ and stubbornly trying to dislodge them."

"By being inhumanly annoying at them?"

"Yup."

Paine sighed. "Try to break that habit for me, and I'll try to be less… stiff."

"Deal." Rikku shook on it.

"Hey you two! Stop falling behind!" Yuna called from up ahead.

"You two old-timers need another nap already?" Auron added, beside her.

Rikku glanced at Paine, mouthed a word, and they grinned and nodded. Paine silently held up one finger, then two, then three, and together they yelled back, "_Whippersnappers_!"

Even Paine had to giggle at the expressions on their faces.

* * *

"Kimahri!" Yuna called as the Ronso elder approached them.

"Yuna look well," said Kimahri. "Kimahri glad."

"How you been, Kimahri? What's it like being an elder?" said Rikku. She felt Auron nudge her in the ribs and frowned at him, missing Kimahri's response. Another Ronso came down the path to talk to Kimahri.

"Fryd'c ouin bnupmas?" she muttered out of the corner of her mouth.

"Tell him about the treehouse," said Auron.

She nearly shrieked. "I was _kidding_, Auron! Sheesh, you drive me up a wall sometimes!"

"Would you rather I conveyed your secret affections to him for you? If you're feeling a touch of feminine shyness I would be glad to let him know of your interest in braiding his hair whilst pregnant with his children."

"Don't _make_ me hit you."

He laughed.

"Oh, go play with Paine. I'm done with you for the afternoon." Rikku stalked to the other side of Yuna and folded her arms, trying to pay attention to what was going on with the Ronso.

* * *

Rikku, on arriving at Zanarkand, immediately felt sick. People wandered around with their families and sphere recorders.

Paine summed up the horror that had struck her companions mute: "A tourist attraction."

"Whose… idea was that?" said Rikku, shaking her head slowly.

Among the unfamiliar faces they found Isaaru. "Yuna? Auron? You've changed so much, I hardly recognize you. Remember me?"

"Of course I remember!" said Yuna. "It's good to see you again, Isaaru."

"I'm honored that you remembered me," he said.

"What is all this?" said Auron, gesturing at the crowds.

"People come from all over Spira to be guided through the Zanarkand Ruins, by me and others," said Isaaru. "Sphere hunters, too, although I had not yet had the fortune to see you here, Auron."

"Oh," said Yuna.

"Whose idea was this?!" said Rikku, feeling her temper rising. "Who's in charge here?"

Isaaru hesitated. "Don't you know?"

"No! I wouldn't be asking if I did!" she said.

"Rikku…" Auron put a hand on her shoulder, but she shook it off.

"This is… Cid's operation," said Isaaru.

"Cid," said Rikku.

"Yes…" said Isaaru, looking uncertain.

"Cid, like, my dad Cid. That's the Cid we're talking about, right?" she said.

"I thought you knew."

She shook her head slowly from side to side, breathing in deep through her nose, then out through her mouth, burying hands in her hair.

"I can see this is upsetting you," he said. "But this is a place of great historical importance for…"

She shut her eyes to block out all the wrongness she could and keep her voice level enough to ask, "Where is he?"

"What?"

Her patience snapped, eyes opened, and her fists dug into the hems of his robe, yanking him down to her face.

"Where. Is. He?!"

* * *

"Welcome! Well, I'll be. If it isn't Yuna! Come to buy a clue from Uncle Cid, have you?" Cid greeted them at the bottom of the elevator inside the temple, where once the empty statue of the final fayth had been.

Rikku stalked forward. "Fryd dra ramm yna oui tuehk?!"

"Uh…" said Cid.

"Hu naymmo, E fyhhy ghuf fryd dra ramm oui drehg oui'na tuehk rana!" she snarled. "So vneahtc teat rana yht oui dinhat ed ehdu y duinecd yddnyldeuh? So IHLMA teat rana! Yuna'c vydran! Tu oui ryja yho kuut aqlicac? Palyica E't muja du rayn fryd oui drehg zicdeveac tuehk drec du dra sasuno uv baubma fa mujat, fru cyjat Spira!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" He held up his hands as if to ward off her words.

"It's like turning the ruins of Home into a theme park!"

He stared at her, and suddenly seemed much smaller and more deflated than she'd seen him since her mother died. "I see your point," he sighed, looking from her to those behind her.

"This isn't right." She struggled to keep her tears down and pushed past him to go into the empty chamber where Yunalesca and the Fayth of Knowledge had once been. That, at least, was empty.

She moved around until she felt she was in the right spot and made the sign of prayer.

_Fayth of Knowledge—any fayth—if you can hear me now, and help me find a way to bring Tidus back, just give me a sign_, she thought.

"Muahahahaha!" chuckled a disembodied voice.

Rikku straightened, a chill running down her spine. "Wh-who's there?"

"You have done well to make it this far, sphere hunters. But you will not have the treasure you seek so easily," answered the voice.

Rikku covered her face with her hand in exasperation. "No more games, pops."

"So we fight," said Paine, behind her.

"If you want the treasure, you must speak the password!" said the voice.

"It's 'monkey'!" Rikku snapped.

"Uh... yes, good. Uh, okay! So now tell me: What is the meaning of life?" said the voice.

"I don't _believe_ this," said Rikku.

"Is that you, Isaaru? Isaaru?" called Yuna.

"It does sound like him," said Auron.

"Is that your final answer?" said the voice.

"Isaaru, get your _ycc_ out here or so help me I'll send it all the way to the Farplane next time I see you!" said Rikku.

Isaaru appeared, rather guiltily.

"What are you doing?" said Yuna.

"My job," he said. "I bring excitement to those who've come to see this sacred place. I, too, once travelled with the hope of seeing this place someday. Working here somehow fulfills that wish."

"I see…" said Yuna.

"At the expense of the memory of others?!" said Rikku.

"Look, I apologize for the quiz. Here's something for your trouble." He handed over a garment grid.

"I advise you to… think of another career choice," Auron said.

"You might live longer," added Rikku.

Isaaru gave her a nervous look and left.

"Ex-summoners come in all flavors," said Paine.

"Guess so. Rikku, are you okay?" said Yuna, putting a hand on her cousin's shoulder.

"Why aren't you madder?" said Rikku, turning to Yuna and Auron. "You loved them just as much as I did, probably more. I can't imagine this not making you at least as sick as it makes me."

"Things change," said Auron.

"Maybe, but it doesn't have to change like this!" said Rikku. "Oh, what difference does it make? Two years and it's already like we're the only ones that really remember. Or… twelve… for some of them… maybe… Can we leave, please? I'm so done with this."

"The sphere oscillo-finder picked up a signal. There should still be a sphere nearby," said Paine.

"Oh," said Yuna.

Rikku sighed.

"Give us a minute," Auron said, and the other two discreetly withdrew. She looked up at him. He stared at the floor. After a moment he knelt down and took off his gloves, touching the tiles. He looked up at her.

"This is where you didn't die," he said. "Do you remember?"

She knelt beside him. "Mm-hmm. Sometimes I remember like it was yesterday."

"It's been two and a half years."

"So does that mean we just forget about it, and all of this goes away?"

"Wait here." He left her there in bewilderment, and then returned with Paine's sphere recorder. He held it to his eye and turned it on as he approached.

She rose, uncomfortable, but as she moved he followed her with the recorder.

"You know I hate being recorded," she said.

"You've got a sphere to remind you that I'm alive," he said. "I want one of you, here, in this place, where I lost you twelve and a half years ago and got you back ten years later." He switched it off and let it rest at his side. "I never got to talk to you about how that felt. Losing you, that day, after I'd lost Jecht and Braska. It was just a few moments for you, but ten years passed for me. And I didn't understand what had happened."

"Should I have tried to explain? I don't think you would have believed me."

He shook his head. "It happened the way it happened. I missed you, Rikku. Not like I miss you when I don't see you for a few days. Not even like I missed you when you vanished last year and I didn't know where you'd gone or what you were planning. I missed you like I had lost the last thing I believed in, the last person I could call friend, the last one who would ever understand me, and I was all alone and full of holes."

"And what happened?"

"Life. The stuff that happens when you're trying to fill the holes, or just get on with it. I lost hope so many times I lost count. Sometimes I would get blind drunk and go stand on the highbridge in Bevelle, where you were sitting. I would think of jumping out of this world into the Farplane. But I knew I had to stay behind, for when Sin came back and there was no more Final Summoning, or no one would stand between Spira and total destruction. And I hated you for leaving me to do that all alone. Hated you so much I wished I could go back in time and hate you to your face."

A fleeting, mirthless grin stole across her face. "Funny, you didn't seem all that angry when I woke up."

"It's exhausting to hate someone for ten years. Try it sometime and see what I mean. Especially when you're busy missing them, too."

"Do you still hate me?"

In response, he lifted the recorder. "Smile for the camera!"

"I will smash that thing!" She advanced on him.

"Have to catch me first, twinkletoes."

"That I can do!"

He took to his heels and she chased after him, laughing.


	12. Secrets

"I wonder what this 'awesome sphere' is like," Yuna mused as they headed into Kilika from the docks.

"Well, it's definitely awesome!" said Rikku, and aimed a poke at Auron that he dodged. "See, I told you there was something we left behind in Kilika!"

"Keep this up and someone will beat us to it," snapped Paine.

Rikku rolled her eyes. "Yes, oh mighty swordswoman, coming."

At the unexpectedly barred gate leading to the temple, Yuna surveyed a large crowd in confusion. "These are all sphere hunters?"

"I doubt it," said Auron.

"Look over there," said Rikku, pointing. "Who's that?"

"Nooj," Paine identified the red-clad ponytailed bespectacled man stepping up to address the crowd.

"Meyvn of the Youth League, right?" said Yuna.

They fell silent as Nooj lifted his arms to quiet the crowd. He spoke in a striding, charming voice that instantly got Rikku's suspicious nature up.

"Greetings, friends! An important sphere is hidden in Kilika Temple. A sphere documenting the true history of Spira. We are here today to demand that New Yevon make the contents of that sphere public. Yet, as always, the voice seeking truth goes ignored. My friends, I ask you: why? Because New Yevon wants to hide the truth! Just as the temples did before them! I tell you now, this has gone on long enough! My friends, stand with me, and together we will bring the truth back to the people." He paused to let them cheer. "But...let's not overdo it. Our opponents aren't as young as they used to be." This got a laugh, as it had clearly been calculated to do.

"Arouse pity for someone and that someone isn't gonna be taken seriously anymore," Rikku said under her breath.

"Well said," said Auron.

"I'm continually surprised that with your sensitive hearing your snoring still fails to wake you up," she said.

"You snore louder," he said.

"I do not."

"I will have to borrow Paine's sphere recorder some night and prove it to you."

"Filming me sleeping? Could you be more of a creepy old man?"

"Most assuredly."

Yuna interrupted their playful spat. "They can't decide who it belongs to? I say we make it our own. Right?"

"Right!" they chorused.

The girls high-fived, and when Auron demurred Rikku smacked him on the butt.

"Why do you let her do that?" said Paine.

"Simple. Watch." He grabbed Rikku's arm to keep her from dodging and gave her a whack as well, although lighter than hers had been.

"But just you try it and you're dead meat," said Rikku. "You'll pull back a bloody stump. And that goes for both our butts."

The citizens protesting at the gate gave the Gullwings just enough distraction to sneak past the guards. They walked into an argument between a priest and former summoner Dona, interrupted by a huge machine appearing to menace those who'd made it to the temple entrance.

"I had a little something prepared for just such an occasion," smirked the priest. "Nice knowing you!"

"Finally, a fight I can sink my teeth into!" said Rikku, adopting a fighting stance near Auron.

"Why don't we try out what we've been practicing?" Paine said, on the other side of him.

Rikku, distracted, turned to watch as the two of them jointly attacked the machine with a flurry of well-practiced sword strikes. Rikku scowled and focused on taking her irritation on the machine. Gunner had a certain visceral satisfaction for her. She unloaded round after round into the thing alongside Yuna.

Rikku punched the air with a pistol after their combined efforts made scrap metal of their foe. "How ya like that?"

"Not bad at all!" said Yuna.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" said Dona, returning from her strategic retreat.

"We're sphere hunters," said Yuna.

"I didn't notice you making any effort to help," said Auron. "Therefore, the sphere belongs to us."

"What?!" said Dona, almost drowned out by the Celsius arriving overhead.

"Tough luck," said Paine, scooping up the sphere its original finder had dropped in his haste to flee.

* * *

"Did you see their faces?" Rikku said excitedly to Auron. "They totally wet their pants! Gullwings strike again!"

"Maybe we overdid it?" said Yuna.

"'Overdid it'?" scoffed Brother, now styling himself their leader. "There is no such thing! The Gullwings shall be notorious throughout Spira!"

"Like we're not already?" Rikku stuck his tongue out at him.

"Not by that name, no," said Auron. "But I agree with Brother, it is only a matter of time before our troublemaking gets immortalized in rumor."

"They weren't all that happy," said Paine. "Don't forget notoriety can be a bad thing."

"One of my _favorite_ bad things!" said Rikku.

Paine gave her a withering look. "Do you really want to have as bad a reputation as, say, Yevon?"

"Hey, that's not fair!" said Rikku.

"Anyway, so what?" said Brother, capering madly on the spot as his typical hyperactive self. "I want to have fun!"

"Just make sure you don't do anything to land us in hot water, okay?" said Buddy.

"No promises," said Auron.

Yuna waved them over to Shinra, whose completed sphere analysis made it possible for them to gather to watch it.

_"You know,"_ said the spine-chillingly familiar young man on the sphere to a giant machine, _"you're all I can count on to save Lenne."_

The sphere shut down.

"Fryd eh Spira ec dryd machina?" said Brother.

"Any ideas?" Buddy asked Shinra.

"Not a one. But, as machina go, it looks extremely dangerous. Definitely a weapon," said Shinra.

"Yunie…" Rikku said as she watched Yuna anxiously, "it's him."

Yuna didn't respond, seemingly miles away with her thoughts.

"U tyr'd mega drec cbrana," said Brother.

"It does seem to leave us with more questions than answers," said Auron. "We should not jump to conclusions too hastily, however."

Buddy and Brother had a hurried aside in Al Bhed, too soft for Rikku to hear.

Brother cleared his throat and addressed the rest of them. "So, uh... Let's give back that sphere, what do you say?"

"What? But we worked so hard to get it!" said Rikku.

"That thing is uber bad news." Brother's familial stubborn streak emerged and he and his sister glared at one another.

"What if we donated the sphere to the study of Spira's history?" said Buddy. "That's what being a sphere hunter was originally about, right?"

"It is Yuna's decision," said Auron.

"I am the leader here!" said Brother.

Auron straightened, ever so slightly, and turned to Brother, who glanced away hastily.

"Let's… give it back," said Yuna.

"You don't mind?" said Rikku. "Don't let my brother talk you into doing something you don't want to do, Yunie."

"I've seen it," said Yuna.

"It's still pretty shameless to saunter up and give back the sphere we just stole," said Buddy.

"Oui pa xiead!" snapped Brother.

"Our reputation is all but worthless if we do that. Our leader's, too, no less," said Paine.

"What do you care what other people think?" said Auron. "People will gossip regardless."

The bickering went in circles until all fell silent, frustrated with one another.

"This isn't any fun at all," said Yuna.

"I really gotta let off some steam," said Rikku. "Maybe go kill some fiends."

"Why don't we ask Yuna to dance?" said Shinra.

"Dance?" said Yuna.

"Oh? That's it! Yuna, you must dance! Our sanity depends on it!" said Brother.

* * *

Under the evening stars Yuna entertained them all, though Paine sulked off to the side, arms folded. Auron and Rikku cheered and whistled like a stadium full of fans.

Yuna, afterward, strolled off to sit by herself on the deck.

"You really think it is him we saw?" Auron said to Rikku. "I… am not so sure. It didn't sound like him."

"Don't you think it looks just like him?" she said. "You've known him longer than I have, haven't you?"

"You're the one who rescued him when Sin brought him to Spira. I couldn't find a way to Zanarkand, and now I know why. It wasn't a place for the living," said Auron.

"Don't say that! He was just as alive as we were! So was Jecht! He wouldn't have been able to become Sin if he wasn't as alive as you and me." She sucked in a breath, horrified at what she'd said.

"You have a point."

"I wish I didn't."

"The truth can be painful."

"_Who the heck is Lenne_?!" Yuna shouted, startling all the Gullwings and the band into silence, staring at her.

Yuna got up. "I'm going to bed." She strode purposefully to the lift.

"It has been a long day," said Auron. "For all of us. Why don't we call it a night?"

Rikku shrugged, quiet with her thoughts.

* * *

All the Gullwings accompanied Yuna to Mushroom Rock Road to give the 'awesome sphere' to the Youth League, and found quite the festive crowd awaiting them.

"Wow! They're pulling out all the stops!" said Rikku.

"I wonder why…" said Yuna.

"The Youth League is keen on grand gestures, if Meyvn Nooj is anything to judge by," said Auron.

"And you _are_ the High Summoner," said Paine.

"Who throws a welcome party for the people who ripped them off?" said Buddy.

"Tadyemc, tadyemc. Cruf cusa lmycc, syh," said Brother.

Shinra, clearly psyched out of his mind to be on the ground for once, sang-shouted, "Gullwings, GO! La-la-la-la-la! Gullwings, FIGHT! La-la-la-laaaa!"

Nooj waited to receive them.

"We'd like to give you the sphere that you were looking for," said Yuna, proffering the sphere to him. "Now that you have this, you can stop the fighting in Kilika."

"How generous," said Nooj, taking the sphere with deceptive delay. "…and how sudden. Maybe you should start by introducing yourself, High Sum…"

"We are the Gullwings," Auron interrupted.

"I see," said Nooj. "Sphere hunters. In that case, I gratefully accept the sphere you have brought. On behalf of the Youth League, I thank you. Everyone, three cheers for the Gullwings!"

Rikku felt a little put off by the ceremony. Later, inside the headquarters, she was relieved when Nooj dropped the pretense.

"So did you watch it?" he said to Yuna, Auron, Rikku, and Paine.

"The sphere?" said Auron. "Yes."

"Forget," said Nooj.

"What has it to do with you?" said Auron.

"Yeah, what are you hiding?" said Rikku.

Nooj paced away from them, then turned to face them. "Since you have been so generous with us, I offer you some advice in return. That… thing… The colossus you saw is known as Vegnagun. It possesses overwhelming destructive power. It must not be touched! Yet those Yevon fools think they can control it. The Youth League will do whatever it takes to make sure they do not get a chance to try. Trust me, you don't want to get involved."

"We'll take your words under advisement," said Auron.

"Tell me…" said Yuna. "Who was the man I saw in the sphere?"

"I cannot say," said Nooj.

"That's not the same as 'I don't know,' is it?" said Rikku.

Buddy ran in at that moment, interrupting them. "Hey, we got a distress signal from the Celsius! Gullwings, we're leaving!"

* * *

"It's official," Shinra told them. "We've been burgled. The broken sphere from the Zanarkand Ruins is missing."

"Looks like the burglar left us a present," said Buddy.

They watched Leblanc's smarmy message grimly.

"She got us," said Paine.

"_Cred_," said Yuna.

"Yuna!" said Rikku, shocked to hear her cousin swear for once.

"I'm just copying you," said Yuna, cheerfully.

Paine rolled her eyes. "That's nice. And?"

"We're gonna take it back!" said Yuna. "No one messes with us!"

"What about Vegnagun?" said Paine.

"What of it? We don't know what it is," said Auron. "I'm not inclined to trust the Meyvn's word on anything."

"We're forgetting who we are!" said Yuna. "We're sphere hunters! The Gullwings!"

"Yeah!" said Rikku, high-fiving Yuna. She lifted up Auron's hand manually to high-five it. He shook his head at her, grinning.

"That's right!" said Brother. "We steal back what is stolen. It is the law of the sphere hunter! Now we go to Chateau Leblanc! We attack in the name of honor!"

"…get our hineys kicked in the name of honor," Shinra muttered.

"Maybe we can sneak in in disguise?" said Yuna.

* * *

Yuna's plan to steal Leblanc Syndicate Uniforms took a backseat when Buddy picked up weak sphere waves from below Youth League headquarters.

"You are sure it's not an echo from the sphere we gave them?" said Auron.

Buddy shook his head. "This is something else."

"Maybe Ormi and Logos went back with more of their spheres!" said Rikku. "Maybe we can whack them _and_ clean up!"

"Either way, let's check it out," said Yuna.

Fiends continued to flood the chasm, and Rikku happily chopped her way through. She felt pleased that Auron spent just as much time showing off their well-practiced moves in battle as he did strutting his swordsman stuff with Paine.

They found Nooj down by the Den of Woe, examining the huge sealed door.

"Is something the matter?" said Yuna, approaching.

Nooj came out of his reverie. "Oh. It's you. As you can see, this place has been sealed. But just this one isn't enough."

"That's the end of that, then," said Yuna.

"No it's not, Yunie," Rikku urged. Yuna caught her eye and light dawned.

"Oh! I know! Why don't you let the Gullwings take on this mission?" Yuna said to Nooj.

"You'll find the other spheres?" he said.

"On my honor as a sphere hunter! Of course, we won't do it for free…" said Yuna.

"Very well, I leave it in your hands. Here, hold on to this sphere."

"Thanks!" said Rikku, reaching for it.

Nooj walked past her to hold it out to Paine. "Perhaps this is fate?"

"I don't think so," Paine said, cold as ever as she took it from him.

Rikku gave Auron a puzzled shrug. He lifted his eyebrows, as if to say, 'Does it matter?'

Rikku sidled up to Paine. "You know him?"

"Why should you care?" said Paine.

"There was something between you two, right?" said Rikku.

"Don't mind her," said Auron. "She's nosy."

"Oh, and you're not?" said Rikku. "Come on, I wanna know, don't you?"

"Rikku," said Paine. "I'll say this once, okay? I consider you friends, and I trust you. I even respect you. All right? I would think that'd be enough."

Rikku held out her hand to Paine. "I do wanna know more about you. That's what friends do, we talk about things."

"What for? Who cares what happened in the past?" said Paine.

"There was something!" Yuna said with delight. "Come on, Paine! You can tell us! What happened?"

"You disappoint me, Yuna. I thought you were above all that," said Paine. "At least Auron respects my privacy."

"You're right," said Rikku suddenly. "You're right. The past is the past. Better to leave some things alone."

"What?" said Yuna.

"Memories are just memories. Better to live for now than get caught up in what we can't change," said Rikku, and then caught Yuna's stricken eyes. She held up her hands, waving them frantically. "Oh, um… I mean… well… oopsie."

"Quit while you're behind," suggested Auron.

"The past is important," said Yuna. "Maybe not the most important thing, but what's happening now happens because of what came before. If not for the choices we made in the past, we wouldn't be here. We wouldn't be friends. Right?" She fixed Rikku with a steely look. "At the same time, we respect each other's privacy. If Paine wants to keep her deep dark past a secret, who are we to judge?"

Auron laughed. "Precisely. Much as I was looking forward to the confession." He gave Paine a sly grin.

"Auron—not you too?" said Paine.

"As Rikku pointed out, I am also nosy," said Auron.

Paine rapped her knuckles on the huge sealed door with a sturdy _thunk_. "Why don't you figure out how to get in here instead of inside my head?"

"Maybe we need spheres like that one to open it?" said Yuna.

"It might open if we find them all," said Paine.

"How many spheres to open your head, then?" Rikku said sweetly.

Paine gave her a murderous glare. "Minus four respect points, Rikku."

"Oopsie again," said Rikku.


	13. All Work and No Play?

"Rikku!"

Rikku swiveled, bringing up the rear of the Gullwings from the entrance to the Djose highroad. Gippal ran from the bridge, grinning.

"I'm glad I caught you!" he said as he reached them. "Got something for you." He flipped a sphere out of his pocket. She caught it, frowned, examined it.

"What do you think? Is it your size? When I saw it, I thought of you."

"'Machina Maw,'" she read off the data display, as Yuna and Auron crowded close. "Oh, this _is_ nice." She glared at him. "What do you want for it? You never give anything for free."

"Dinner," he said. "But even if you say no, you can keep it. I've got no need of a dressphere like that, fortunately."

"_Dinner_?" she said. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Auron straighten.

"I'd like to hear what you've been up to these past years. I heard it's been pretty exciting."

"Dinner. With you." Her eyes flicked to Auron, whose mouth was slightly open, expression unreadable.

"I won't bite, you know."

"…I _really_ don't trust you."

"If I were you, I wouldn't either. But I don't like the way we left things. Isn't there any chance we might…try our hand at friendship?"

She lowered her voice and stepped in closer, uncomfortable at their audience. "I'm not forgiving you, and I won't forget."

"I don't expect you to."

She glanced from him to the others. "I'm… sorta busy right now."

"All work and no play?" He reached out, took her hand, and unnerved her again by kissing it.

"We can take five," said Yuna. "There's no rush."

Rikku's eyes slipped past her cousin to those of Auron, and Paine, standing nearby. She glanced back at Gippal, that winning smile that had been her downfall as a teenager. A familiar flutter in her stomach awakened.

"All right. Dinner." She held up a finger as his face lit up. "But no funny stuff, or you can kiss your other eye goodbye!"

He chuckled softly. "Yes, ma'am!"

* * *

"Is this your idea of dressing up?" Rikku said as she entered Gippal's office in the temple. He wore a sleeveless ribbed collared shirt unzipped at the neck and utilitarian if clean black pants and boots.

"Thank you for meeting me for dinner," he said. "It's nice to be able to drop the pretense in private. Believe it or not, I do get tired of being charming. I know you don't buy the act anyway." He pulled out her chair in contradiction to this, and she took it suspiciously, allowing him to push her up to the table. She half-expected him to slam it all the way in and break the spell.

He sat down across from her and picked up a napkin. He'd said nothing about the fact she hadn't bothered to dress up. She had come in her Warrior dressphere, leaving the sword behind with some reluctance.

He served himself from a bowl of mesclun, pitted dates, orange slices, dried fruit and nuts, then passed her the tongs. A green and orange banded ceramic cone sat on a broad thick plate, presumably covering some steaming traditional Home dish. She could smell clove.

She served herself, peering at him. _He won't answer any straight questions_, she thought. _I think I'll pull an Auron and just wait for him to speak. Auron can listen like a tornado, pulling everything into himself, in the end._

"How are you?" he said.

She shrugged noncommittally and stabbed some leaves. "Can't complain." She chewed, watching him.

"I don't hear much about you. Everything I hear is always about Auron. He casts kind of a big shadow, doesn't he?" he said.

She ate a date.

"I know it's not my place to ask, considering how I bungled things with you, but—is he treating you right? There's such an age difference between you."

"Don't tell me you're listening to rumors. Auron's my friend. Nothing else."

His lips twitched and he ducked his head to eat, clearly struggling to hide his smile.

"That doesn't mean I'm in any way interested in taking up with you again, either."

"You deserve someone who can keep up with you and treat you right. I have no illusions about my character. I know what I did was unforgivable. You have my apology anyway."

"You're all talk."

He set down his goblet. "I know it's not much, but I'm making an effort, here."

"Why?"

"I have… a lot of regrets." He sighed. "I've had to grow up a lot to take on these new responsibilities, and that means taking a good hard look at myself. And making some changes. I can't be who I was anymore. I have to take responsibility when I _vilg_ up, and try to make reparations—even many years too late. I think a lot about what Auron said to me when he met me during the Guado's siege on Home. He sized me up in just a moment, how impulsive and foolish I was. I wish I'd listened to him, then."

She felt off-balance. _First he's getting a dig in on Auron about his age, now he's praising him?_ She sipped hastily to cover her bewilderment and her citric white wine cocktail went down the wrong way. He scrambled up to slap her on the back as she coughed to clear her airways.

He peered at her with concern in his green spiral eye. "You okay?"

She nodded. He smiled, touched her cheek briefly and then spun to round the table. Her fingers reached up instinctively to feel the tingling skin where he'd touched her. She dropped her hand as he sat down.

"Remember when we got lost in the desert together? Remember that night, the heat lightning? You were so scared," he said.

She flushed. "I was a lot younger then."

"Hey, I had fears, too. But I liked feeling needed, feeling like I could make you feel safer. I wish I hadn't blown it. These days you don't seem like you're afraid of anything. You're self-sufficient. You don't need anything or anyone—unless that's just an act. You did teach me everything I know, including how to pretend so well I fool myself."

She pursed her lips.

"I hope if you ever do need anything—you know you can call me."

She sighed, pushed aside the salad, and reached out to lift the cover off the main course. "…Yeah, that's what I thought. My favorite. Gippal…"

He looked down and away. "Can't blame a guy for trying to make you happy, Rikku. I remember the first time you smiled at me. I hadn't thought anything could be more blinding than that insane desert sun. And I remember the first time you looked at me in anger—I felt scorched to the core. I'm really sorry, Rikku. Truly I am." He looked at her with that unfair wounded-puppy expression.

She sighed explosively and set down the ceramic cover with a noisy clap on the plate. "Why do you have to be so difficult?! I liked it better when you were just an arrogant pain in the _ycc_! I don't know what to do with you."

He laughed. "Well, that makes two of us. I don't know what to do with me either. If it makes you feel better, she dumped me not long after. And she was right to."

"_Tysh_ right," she muttered. The smell of the tantalizing food lingered, and she took the cover back off. She served herself a heaping plate of couscous and kabab barg.

"Anyway, now you're a hero, and some idiot put me in charge of the Machine Faction," he said. "I think that was mostly by default; if you'd not already been off sphere hunting I know they would have offered the job to you."

"They did," she said, following up with a forkful of food. She shut her eyes. Her teeth sank into tender, spicy meat. It had been so long since she'd had her favorite meal. She'd gotten used to eating whatever was on offer, whatever could be grabbed and taken on the road. Barkeep's cooking on the Celsius trended toward seaweed and sushi and left a lot to be desired.

"Why didn't you take it? You could have had fun, bossing me around, getting some of your own back."

She swallowed, peeking out of one eye to see his amused grin. She couldn't help smiling. She splayed back in her chair. "There's a lovely thought. You'd have to get used to the smell of toilet cleaner before dawn."

He laughed. "You'd be a harsh taskmaster. I can only imagine how much more you could teach me now, after saving the world."

She rolled her eyes. "Like I'd waste time teaching a _csyndycc_ lazy student like you. If I were head of the Machine Faction I'd have way better things to do than babysit your sorry butt!"

"I can only imagine. You were the one who believed in the airship project when everyone thought you were crazy. Is it true that the airship was the secret to beating Sin, in the end?"

She shook her head. "That's how we got inside the shell… but getting in was just the beginning, and what was inside would have made short work of all of us if we hadn't been on our toes. _All_ of us. Especially Yunie."

"You always believed she didn't have to die, didn't you?"

"I hoped."

"I'm really glad you were with her. I'm glad you both survived to tell the tale. Most guardians of High Summoners had a pretty terrible survival rate."

She shuddered. "Yeah." She took a hasty sip of wine to wash away thoughts that rose in response to his remark.

"And now… the Eternal Calm. The Gullwings, Spira's best and most famous sphere hunters. Somehow you'll always wind up at the top of whatever you're involved in."

"So do you, it seems. I never would have guessed you had leadership in you. How did that happen, anyway?"

He shrugged. "Like I said, probably default. I'm by no means the best machinist, but I guess my charming façade counts for something."

She grinned and kicked him under the table. "It'd be a shame if anyone learned the truth about you, wouldn't it?"

He laughed. "How much is your silence gonna cost, huh?"

"Got any more spheres like the one you had earlier?" She popped a slice of red pepper in her mouth.

"'Fraid not."

"Mm. Well, what have you got?"

"Uh… my undying gratitude?"

She kicked him again, harder. "Guess again, _bihg_!"

His smile took on a wistful quality. "Co-leadership of the Machine Faction."

She caught her breath.

"Don't say no right away. I want you to give it some thought. You're a great sphere hunter, Rikku. You made a great guardian. I think you'd make an even greater leader."

She laid her fork down. "Gippal…"

"…Let's talk about something else." He sipped his wine. "Tell me about your latest adventures. Tell me about all the gorgeous men pining after you in every port. C'mon, leave me groaning on the floor in jealousy. You _know_ you want to get your own back!"

She laughed. "You are incorrigible!"

He grinned.

* * *

Gippal very carefully attempted to set down the green bottle he held. Rikku had to dive to catch the empty one he knocked over in the process. He snorted with laughter. She set both bottles upright on the ground.

She shook her finger at him. "You should know better than to try to drink me under the table by now. Couldn't do it then, definitely can't now!"

"_Tysh nekrd_," he said, lifting bubbling wine to her. "Can't blame a guy for trying, though."

She shrugged, hiding her grin in her fluted glass.

"Auron ever try to get you drunk like this?" he said. "I can't imagine that in two and a half years he never tried anything. Man'd have to be dead to not try anything with you."

She scowled. He didn't seem to notice her displeasure. They were sprawled on his couch, dinner long since defeated and dirty dishes abandoned on the table.

"Do you ever wish… we could go back?" He leaned back against the pillows on the far end, his hand holding the glass propped on his knee, wine on the verge of spilling out of its tilt. "Ever wish we could change the past?"

She caught her breath. She stared at him with a carefully blank face.

His eyes wavered, went a little misty. He sighed. "I know I do. I wish I could go back and smack some sense into my younger self. You could help. I bet you'd enjoy that." He gave her a grin and managed to find his mouth with his glass, spilling a little carbonated foam onto his ribbed collar and the skin between the zipper's teeth. "We could totally kick young Gippal's _ycc_! It could be a cath… cataric… catheric… We could bond over it." He nodded sagely.

"There is a certain appeal to the thought of tearing strips off your stupid hide," she mused, her heart banging, pretending she wasn't as unnerved as she was. _It's just talk. He's off his head. Never could hold his liquor, _buun cyb_. He has no idea what I did. Nobody does, other than my friends._

"Anyway, the past is over. Memories are just memories, nothing more. Good or bad, it's done," she said. "Gotta move forward. Or, in your case, downward." She reached out to take the glass sliding from his slackening fingers.

"I'm not so think as you drunk I am," he said.

"Of course not," she said, setting the glasses on the floor.

His eye popped open and his face lit up. "You're not going to take advantage of me in this sorry state, are you?"

"Ew, no."

"Why not?" he whined. "I'm younger than he is. I may be drunk, but I can hold my own with you. You know I can. It wasn't that long ago. Wasn't I good to you in bed?"

"Yes, you were," she sighed, "but not just me."

"You're never gonna let that go, are you?"

"Not a chance."

"Fair enough." He rolled over on his side, hoarding pillows under him. "It was worth a shot. You're unforgettable."

She leaned back and regarded him thoughtfully, even as his mouth fell open and he began to snore and drool.

* * *

Auron glanced up from the bar as Rikku entered the Celsius's cabin. The lights were dimmed, Yuna and Paine presumably asleep. Rikku sidled up to Auron and slumped onto the stool next to him, leaning on his arm.

"Have a good time?" said Auron.

After a moment's consideration, she twisted her head and grinned up at him. "Surprisingly, yes. A little candlelit dinner goes a long way with me."

He lifted an eyebrow at her. She returned the expression, widening her eyes to mock him. He laughed. She smacked his rear before heading up to bed with a head full of wine and memory.


	14. Scars

_"Don't do this. Please don't."_

Auron hadn't been back to the Scar of the Fayth since he and Rikku had found the sphere that had inspired Yuna to join the Gullwings. His memories remained recent and raw.

His jaw clenched. He stared at where Rikku had been standing, crouched, with the Godhand. Behind her, he remembered the active sphere displaying how to become a fayth and her pestle full of something lethal close at hand. He remembered the cold chilling him through to the bone at the sight of his suicidal friend.

_Rikku laughed. "It's not death. Not really."_

_ "Yes, it is, Rikku. You will be just as dead as Jecht was when Yunalesca made him a fayth."_

_ "Jecht! Jecht didn't die! He was a dream, Auron! And so was Tidus! Don't you understand? The fayth were tired. They wanted to stop dreaming. They'd been dreaming for such a long time. But how long would I have to dream? The lifetime of two people? Just two people, Auron. They would be just as alive as they ever were. Wouldn't you want to see Jecht again? Wouldn't you want to see Yuna happy, with Tidus?"_

_ "No!" Auron shouted. "Not at the expense of your life!"_

_ "What life? This life? My life?" She laughed hollowly. "My life! My life sucks! I can't stop dreaming, and they're all awful dreams! Even when I'm awake, it's still there! I've finally found a way to bring two of them back. And that is worth everything! It's worth giving up my _creddo_ life for theirs!"_

_ "NO IT ISN'T! DAMN IT RIKKU!"_

_ She lifted the pestle to her lips._

He almost shouted at his own memory, lifting a hand and turning away as if to ward off the unwanted sight. His gaze, back in the present, fell on Rikku. She stared at the Scar of the Fayth as if hypnotized by it.

"Where did you find the sphere you showed me?" Yuna said to Rikku. When she didn't answer, Yuna turned to her. "Rikku?"

"Mm?" said Rikku.

"Where did you find the sphere you brought me on Besaid?" said Yuna.

Rikku again did not answer.

"What's wrong, Rikku?" said Yuna.

"He was a dream of the fayth," said Rikku. "That's how he came to be. How could he be again, unless a fayth could dream him into life? And there are no more fayth, not here, not in any of the temples."

Yuna sucked in a sharp breath. "Then… then you think it's pointless to hope? You really think there is no other way?"

"Rikku," said Auron.

Rikku turned an agonized look on Yuna and grabbed her cousin's hands. "Yunie, what if there was a way to make a fayth that would dream him back to life? Just one fayth, just dreaming long enough for a single lifetime?"

"I… what?" said Yuna, flustered.

Auron stepped forward. "_Rikku_! That's enough!"

Yuna glanced from him to her cousin. "What's going on?"

Rikku released her and turned away, head bowed. She took a few steps toward the mountain face. Fear drove Auron to her side.

"I thought we talked this through," he hissed. "I told you, if you had those thoughts again, to come to me."

"It's not fair," she sniffed, shaking her head. "It's just not _fair_, Auron. I could have brought him back. I _know_ it."

He grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him, giving her a shake. "Snap out of it! You think she would be happy, losing your life to get his back? You think _he_ would be happy about that? And do you really think, after all you've been through, that there's nothing beyond what we know that might bring him back? Do you think we know everything that can possibly be?"

She looked up at him, tears freezing on her cheeks.

"You really think you know everything, Rikku? I know I don't, and I've been nosy a hell of a lot longer than you have."

She took a deep breath, and expelled it in a cloud that blurred her features for a moment. "No. No, you're right. I guess being here just… brought back what it felt like, to stand here then."

He enveloped her in a hug. "Yeah. Me too. I feel terrified."

She squeezed him painfully hard, with more strength in her arms than her slight form suggested. "Me too."

After a long moment he let her go, and turned back to Yuna. "We searched the cave where we found it thoroughly—both of us and Brother and Buddy. Nevertheless, it may be worth another look." He gestured toward the narrow entrance.

Yuna, still looking mystified, darted eagerly inside. Rikku followed. Paine hung back, staring at Auron with impassive red eyes.

"Ladies first," he said, still holding out his arm.

She followed her comrades inside. Another thorough search by the four of them turned up nothing.

"Worth a try," he said. "We never know where we might have answers, including all the places we've looked before."

"Yeah," said Rikku, with a smile for Auron. "I can't take it for granted that I know everything, after all."

Yuna stared at the cave wall for a long while, not moving. "…No…" she said at length. "…The fayth are all gone, and I wouldn't want anyone to sacrifice their life to become one, just to dream him back. I'm sure he wouldn't want that either." She turned to Rikku. "No one should have to die to bring him back. Even if… even if we were sure it would. Even if we knew how to make someone a fayth. Even if that person was willing to give their life. It wouldn't make it okay. If there is no other way… well… I don't want someone to die for me, or for him."

Rikku nodded. "Yeah. Yeah. I don't know what I was thinking, Yunie. Sorry."

"There's nothing to apologize for." Yuna put her hands on Rikku's shiver bare shoulders. "Remember on my pilgrimage, when you and he conspired to try to think of a way to beat Sin that didn't involve me sacrificing myself for the Final Summoning? Well, it's time to dust off that ol' Rikku thinking cap again. Back then it seemed like there was only one answer, and you weren't going to settle for that, neither of you. You're stubborn, and I love you for it. Time to be stubborn again."

"My specialty!" Rikku punched the air.

"Mine too," added Auron.

"Yeah, his too!" said Rikku.

Yuna laughed. "Thank you both. Hey, the Gullwings are the best sphere-hunting team in Spira! If there are answers out there, we'll find them for sure! Right, Paine?"

"Right!" Paine moved in to high-five all of them, this time with Auron's enthusiastic participation.

"Onwards and upwards!" said Rikku. "Let's kick this mountain's _ycc_!"

Auron laughed.

* * *

"That water felt great!" said one Fem-goon to another, unaware of being spied on from above by Yuna, Auron, Rikku, and Paine. "Can you believe there's a hot spring in a place like this?" The Fem-goon waved an arm at the icy mountain.

"But isn't this supposed to be sacred Ronso ground?" said the other Fem-goon. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…"

"What? You think some Ronso boogie man is gonna come get you?" The first one flapped her hands theatrically. "Better that than the boss, know what I mean?"

"Hey!" said Ormi, causing the two young women to jump at his approach. "You two been slacking off?"

"No, we were, uh, getting ready for duty. Just trying to, uh, rejuvenate, sir," said the first Fem-goon.

The precipitous ledge under the eavesdroppers gave way with no warning, tumbling the four of them down into a steaming pool. Ormi and the Fem-goons fled.

"Owie," Rikku complained, shoving at Auron. "Get _off_ me, you ancient oaf!"

"What's this?" said Yuna, shaking out her wet hair.

"A hot spring?" said Rikku, still glaring at Auron. "Sheesh, you're heavy!"

"Were those Leblanc's goons?" said Paine.

"Looks like they left something behind," said Auron, pointing to their prize, a third Leblanc Syndicate uniform to add to the two they'd already collected, as well as the rather small-looking male Goon uniform Auron was not looking forward to trying to squeeze into.

"That sure was easy," said Rikku.

"Well," said Yuna, turning to the pool, "as long as we're here…"

"On sacred ground?" Rikku looked bemused.

"No one's looking," said Paine.

"Do we really have time for this?" said Auron.

"Of course we do! Calm's not ending anytime soon. Anyway, girls only!" Rikku shoved at him, pushing him out of the pool. His dripping black leather steamed in the cold mountain air.

"Nothing I haven't seen before in Besaid," he said, but his eyes fell on Paine. She quirked an eyebrow at him, her mouth twitching a little.

"Girls _only_!" Rikku insisted, shoving harder.

"Sorry, Auron," Yuna laughed.


	15. Infighting

"This feels _great_," sighed Yuna, slopping water over her shoulder.

"He could have joined us," Paine said.

Rikku glanced over at Paine and grinned. "Liked what you saw of him back on Besaid, didn't you? You like older men?"

"I didn't say that," said Paine, with rather more heat than Rikku expected. She avoided Rikku's gaze with a sniff. "I just don't see why you were so keen for him to leave."

"We need a little girl time! Right, Yuna? Auron's like having a chaperone around." Rikku made a face.

Yuna laughed. "Chaperone? Rikku, he's almost as bad as you are!"

"I'm more uptight than he is," said Paine.

"Oh, whatever!" said Rikku.

"So did you enjoy your dinner in Djose, Rikku?" said Yuna. "You never said."

"Huh? Oh, with Gippal." Rikku saw Paine twist with an evident look of interest. "It was good, I guess. He's a scoundrel."

"Oh _really_?" Yuna giggled.

Rikku held up her hands. "No, it wasn't like that! I'd have broken every bone in his body if he tried anything with me."

"Sounds like you two had quite the history."

Rikku rolled her eyes. "Yeah, he was my first big mistake."

"He seemed sorry about it."

"Little too late for that."

"He's kinda cute, though. And it seems like he's still carrying a torch for you. You don't suppose he could have changed, do you?"

"Gippal? Nah. He just got more devious, that's all." Rikku dipped down in the water, braids swirling around her like yellow seaweed. She saw Yuna waggle her eyebrows and sighed. To forestall further gossip, Rikku crawled toward Paine.

"What are you doing? Stay away!" said Paine, splashing her.

"Who-hoa!" said Rikku, circling behind her prey with a giggle.

"Wanna get hurt?" said Paine.

"Look who's got it goin' on!" said Rikku, grappling her.

"Hurt time!" Paine scrambled up.

"You want some?" said Rikku, squaring off across from her.

"Ooh, let me help!" said Yuna, unexpectedly tackling Rikku from behind and locking her elbows behind her.

"Hey!" said Rikku.

Paine grinned, sashaying forward. "Where were we?"

"I didn't mean it!" said Rikku.

"Too late!" the other two chorused. Paine pounced on her. The water churned, Rikku sputtered, and Yuna and Paine cackled.

"Yuna, what's all the noise?" Brother's voice cut in from their receiver.

"Just taking a little dip!" Yuna called.

"Y meddma teb! Code pink! I'll be there right now!" said Brother, followed by a smack of flesh and a thud. The girls desisted, Paine releasing Rikku's arms from behind her.

"Brother?" said Yuna.

"Don't worry, I knocked him out," said Buddy's voice.

Rikku laughed. "Maybe we should get out. I'm getting all pruney!"

"You're just saying that because you were losing," said Paine.

"Losing? It wasn't fair! Two against one?" said Rikku, taking a swing at Paine's smug grin.

"I see. Without the Legendary Guardian to protect you, you're just a helpless child, aren't you?" said Paine.

Rikku screamed in frustration and dove on Paine, who laughed.

"Hey, you two!" said Yuna. "Maybe Rikku's right. We've let off some steam, and now let's get going to Chateau Leblanc!"

Rikku yelped as Paine twisted her arm behind her. "Ow, that really hurt!"

"Oh, don't be a baby," said Paine.

Rikku snarled and slashed a leg out to knock Paine's out from under her.

"Okay, okay, enough is enough!" said Yuna. "Come on."

Paine slammed a fist into Rikku's gut. Rikku grabbed Paine's hair and yanked.

"That's _enough_!" shouted Yuna, prying the two young women apart with no small effort. As it was Rikku, in a red mist of rage, scratched at Paine's face and Yuna had to step between them, facing Rikku.

"Hey, chill," said Yuna, stroking her cousin's face. "We're just having a little fun, aren't we? Let's get changed into those uniforms. Auron's probably bored out of his mind waiting for us."

Rikku aimed a last glare over Yuna's shoulder at Paine, but quelled at her cousin's urging. "Yeah," she said. "I feel a need for some saner company."

"You miss your human shield," said Paine.

"Paine, that's enough!" Yuna turned on the other woman. "Come on. I want you two to make up and shake hands. That's an order. Since Brother's incapacitated I'm declaring myself in temporary charge."

"Oh, all right," said Rikku, rolling her eyes, and offered her hand stiffly. Paine shook it, equally stiffly.

"Good!" said Yuna. "Let's go, Gullwings!"

They re-dressed. As they left the hot springs, they ran into the returning Fem-goons. Rikku snatched out her daggers.

"We'll be taking that uniform back!" said one.

"If we lose it, Leblanc will give us the heel!" said the second.

Entering battle flow, Rikku's remaining resentment toward Paine evaporated. Paine's sword swings had shifted toward Auron's style, making it easy for Rikku to dart in afterward and clean up as she usually did when fighting alongside him. She glanced at Paine to make sure the swordswoman wasn't about to decapitate her and Paine gave her a surprised, puzzled smile. Yuna finished the other Fem-goon off with her pistols. They headed back to the Scar of the Fayth, Rikku in a much brighter mood than when they arrived.

"Nothing like a good battle to brighten my day," said Yuna pointedly.

"Yeah!" said Rikku. "Gullwings rock!"

Instead of Auron, Ormi was waiting at the Scar.

"Lousy Gullwings!" he said, jumping down the ledges. "Falling down on people like that. Gave me a little surprise, that's all."

"For a little surprise, you sure took a while to come back," said Paine, readying her sword.

"Who asked you?!" said Ormi.

Rikku crouched into her fighting stance as Yuna drew her guns.

* * *

"Hey, where's Auron?" Rikku said to Buddy as they entered the Celsius's bridge, dressed in their liberated Syndicate uniforms. Brother eyed Yuna a little too appreciatively for Rikku's tastes.

"We dropped him off at Chateau Leblanc half an hour ago," said Buddy.

"What?!" said Rikku.

"Aw, man, he couldn't wait for us?" said Yuna.

"Rrr!" Rikku growled. "That insufferable _pycdynt_! I'll kick his _ycc_ so hard he'll kiss the sky!"

Buddy laughed.

* * *

Rikku, Yuna, and Paine, in their Syndicate uniforms, had no trouble getting into Chateau Leblanc in Guadosalam. Inside, in the eerie quiet, they heard female moaning. Rikku went hot and then numb all over. She followed Yuna and Paine toward the source of the sound. They peeked in through the doorway to find Leblanc getting a massage from a Goon whose uniform was a little too small for him.

Rikku's fingernails bit into the doorframe. She seethed, clenching her jaw. Yuna covered her mouth and turned away to stifle a giggle, nearly pitching into Paine, who pushed her aside and eased the door a little more open to have more of a look. Rikku glared at both of them, the walls, the world, and most of all Leblanc and her masseuse. After what seemed an interminable time, Leblanc started snoring.

Auron removed his hands as if from some scalding acid. His masked head flipped up to face the cracked door. He looked about to speak when the door on the other side of the room opened and Ormi and Logos entered. Paine pushed the door almost all the way shut, listening but unable to see.

"The boss fell asleep again? One massage and she's out like a light," said Logos.

"We'd been waiting for her, too, 'cause she had something important to tell us," said Ormi.

"We'll just have to keep waiting. In the meantime, you, go make sure the switch panel is working," said Logos.

"Which one?" said Auron's voice, poorly disguised, at least to Rikku's hearing. That unmistakable gravelly laconic sound grated on her last nerve.

"The back of the living room!" snapped Ormi. "The same one as always!"

The door opened so quickly Paine fell over Yuna, who was crouched behind her. Rikku stood up with enormous hauteur, staring at the mask over Auron's face. He shut the door, picked Paine up off the floor, and hustled all three of them down the staircase.

"What did you think you were doing?!" Rikku hissed to him. "We were supposed to go together! As a TEAM!" They turned at the bottom of the stairs and entered the ground-level grand parlor.

"I got bored," he murmured mildly. Yuna shut the door hurriedly.

"I can't count the number of times I got bored out of my mind traveling with you over the last two and a half years, waiting for your sour old _ycc_, and I _never_ left you behind!" Rikku struggled to keep her voice low.

He rounded on her, so fast she ran into him. "Did you really forget about Baaj already?! Not that that was the first time you would run off because I happened to bring up Braska or Jecht or anything about that first pilgrimage!" He tore off his mask as he said this, his eyes fierce.

She flushed, livid that he was right, and unwilling to backtrack and lose ground. She flung her mask off. "I never went off on a plan we'd agreed to beforehand! Anyway _you_ left _me_ in Baaj, you _sunuh_!" She poked him sharply in the chest. "The fact that I didn't want to talk about Jecht and Braska is not at all the same of you ditching all of us on Gagazet to come here!"

"You're the one who told me to leave!" he said.

"Quiet!" hissed Paine.

Rikku threw up her hands. "Just to give us some privacy, not to leave the mountain!"

"You would prefer total control over where precisely I go when, and for how long?" said Auron.

"Keep it down!" hissed Yuna.

"You're being absolutely childish!" said Rikku.

"You're one to talk!" he retorted.

The next thing Rikku knew, Auron lay flat on his back on the carpet, blood trickling from his nose, her clenched fist stinging. Rikku shook all over, panting. She noticed Yuna's arms jerking at her, Yuna's voice yelling her name. Rikku turned just in time that Ormi's shield clipped her shoulder rather than hitting her square in the back.

Rikku's fury rose again, but rather than a blackout rage it came leashed along the familiar paths of battle-rage. She wasted no breath on screaming, just drew her daggers and flew at Ormi and the two Fem-Goons.

Somewhere amidst her slashing and dodging she caught glimpses of Auron and Paine fighting side by side. His nose still bled, bruise colors flowering around his left eye. Rikku felt shame convert into even more anger at herself for her actions and him for provoking her. She gathered it all and rammed it into her every move against Leblanc's heavy sidekick.

At last Ormi ran off, the Fem-Goons long since finished. Rikku followed Yuna along dark musty stone corridors, still simmering. Every bootfall of Auron's behind them grated her teeth. Yuna discovered a sphere glowing orange on a bedside table. Rikku felt a hand on her shoulder and flinched. She turned to Auron. His eye was quickly falling into purple-black shadow. She winced.

"I'm sorry," she said, looking down at her feet.

He said nothing. The sphere in Yuna's hands hummed to life. A grainy, dim bluish panning shot of dead bodies swarming with pyreflies filled the display.

_"Let's see," said Ormi's voice. "Total survivors of the final Crimson Squad selection exercise: zero, zilch, and zipall. Job done."_

_ "You pinhead," said Logos's voice. "Did you even count? Look. There are bodies missing. There should be three more candidates and their recorder."_

_ "Uh, your point?" said Ormi._

_ Slowly, patronizingly, Logos said: "Three plus one makes how many? Four still live. Fix it."_

_ "Figures."_

_ "Did you say something?" said an unfamiliar male voice._

_ Logos straightened. "No, sir! Pay him no mind."_

The display darkened.

"It's a dud," said Paine.

"Only naughty girls would scrounge through other people's bedrooms," sneered Logos's voice, in the present. The four of them whirled around to face Leblanc's taller, rail-thin sidekick with arms primly folded, beside a revived seething Ormi.

"What about you?" said Rikku, glad of a fresh target for her irritation. "You're the ones who broke into our airship!"

"The boss's orders are permission enough!" said Logos, flourishing his pistols to engage them in battle.

Auron, without warning, grabbed Rikku and whirled her, flinging her into Logos. She managed to draw her daggers in time to slice the gunman, skidding to a stop just behind him.

"_Hey_!" she snapped at Auron, who was already swinging his sword at Ormi. Paine jumped in beside him.

Rikku shrugged. _Well, I deserve a little payback for that shiner!_ she thought. She focused on taking down Logos alongside Yuna. Ormi's spinning shield smacked into the small of Rikku's back and knocked her reeling.

"Hey!" snarled Rikku. "Ooh, now you've made me _mad_!" She transformed into the Black Mage Dressphere. "Can't handle him even with both of you, huh? Let Rikku the Great handle this one!" Ormi staggered under her fire spell.

The four of them sent Leblanc's men packing in short order. As Yuna punched the air in victory red light suffused all the halls, a klaxon piercing the air.

Elaborate and intense booby traps complicated their further explorations of Leblanc's lair. In the last room they searched they found a sphere display.

"It's gotta be in here, right?" said Rikku.

"Let's split up and look," said Paine.

"Ahem." They glanced up at Auron, his arms folded, boot planted on a very obvious treasure chest lid, and a smug look on his bruised face.

"Aha!" said Yuna, rushing forward. Rikku and Paine dashed in as well. Auron took his foot off the chest and tackled Rikku.

"_Pycdynt_!" she cried. He gave her a ferocious noogie, arms pinned behind her. She shoved him off with her boot, which he grabbed and used to swing her across the room into the couch. Which broke.

"Kids, come on!" said Paine. "Let's see what we came here for, huh?"

Rikku ignored her, rolling to her feet to meet the onrushing, grinning Auron. She heard Yuna and Paine talking, but really didn't care, too absorbed in unarmed combat.

"You hit like a girl!" he taunted.

"I _am_ a girl!" she said.

"You are a _marshmallow_," he said. "Don't think I'm going to go easy on you because you've gone all gooey on me out of pity."

"Well, I've gotta give you a chance to repay me," she said.

"Less talk, more fight. Hit me like you _mean_ it."

She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Such noisy brats!" sneered Leblanc, flanked by Logos and Ormi in the doorway. "You are by far the _worst_ thieves I've ever heard of!"

"But you _have_ heard of us," said Paine dryly.

Leblanc looked down her nose at them, folding her arms. "I went through a lot of trouble gathering those pieces—all for Noojie-Woojie. So don't you lay a finger on it! Let's get 'em, boys!"

"Yes, boss!" her henchmen chorused behind her.

Rikku hopped from foot to foot, re-energized by her tussle with Auron. They threw themselves wholeheartedly into the fight. Auron executed perfect tosses of both Paine and Rikku during their battle and brought the Leblanc Syndicate gasping to their knees.

"Well? Want another helping of your just desserts?" said Rikku.

"No one's gonna hear you scream from down here," said Paine.

"W-Wait a second! I'll let you see what's in the sphere!" said Leblanc.

"You mean _our_ sphere?" said Auron, toying with the two halves.

"Please, the sphere is yours to watch," sighed Leblanc.

The Gullwings clustered around Auron as he brought the two halves together and the sphere shimmered to life.

Grainy shots circled and panned around a giant, forbidding machina surrounded by armed guards in a cavernous room. No one spoke. Eerie humming and what sounded like breathing emanated from the recording.

"That is the colossus Vegnagun." Leblanc had regained her feet and arrogant stance. "We've finished our analysis of the sphere. It appears to have been recorded underneath Bevelle."

"I see Bevelle hasn't lost its old fondness for secrets," said Paine.

"Exactly," said Leblanc. "Those Yevon scum have been concealing that weapon all along. If anyone uses that thing, Spira is done for."

"But it's a machina!" said Rikku. "All we have to do is shakey-shake our way up to it and take it apart!"

"That's what Noojie's got in mind," said Leblanc. "And of course, whatever he's planning is what I'm planning. What about you?"

"I have a… friend who might know something about this," said Auron. "In Bevelle. Not that I trust him, but it might be worth seeing what he says."

"The summoner who defeated Sin and the Legendary Guardian of two high summoners ought to stand up and defend Spira again," said Leblanc.

Yuna nodded and Auron 'hmph'ed.

"So then I guess we're on the same side. We'll be waiting for you," said Leblanc with a giggle.

"Waiting where?" said Paine.

"Don't be silly, love. On your airship, of course. I've always wanted to take a spin on that thing!" said Leblanc.

"Rather presumptive of you. What makes you think we need your help?" said Auron.

Leblanc laughed at him. "_Please_." Logos and Ormi turned and left and she strutted after them.

"It is unfair," Auron murmured to Rikku as they followed. "One of these days I'm going to out you and _you_ can see how it feels to be famous."

She glared at him. "Unh-unh! We've been over this a _thousand_ times, Auron! You blab one word about what I did and our friendship is kaput. I don't want to talk to anyone about what happened, besides you, and that's only 'cause you were there. Yunie's not the only one who lost someone, and I don't think people would get that I can't just jump back in time again to save somebody. No matter how much I might want to. How d'you think it'd feel, telling grieving people over and over again 'there's no way'? You saw how Wakka is. He keeps holding onto hope of something left over from his brother or mom and pops. Like a little kid that just can't understand—gone is gone. I don't wanna be the bad guy, smashing up people's hopes."

"You have a point." He sounded surprised. "I hadn't thought of that."

She sighed. "I wish I _could_ go back again to save someone else. With more of a plan than just charging in, Rikku to the rescue!" She mocked herself with a punch to the air. "I wish I'd thought up a better plan. I wish I'd thought of what I'd do when I got there. I could've done a lot more."

"What happened happened. You did something incredible. Isn't that enough? Why focus on what you _didn't_ do? I'm alive. We defeated Yunalesca after Braska's death, so she would never sacrifice another high summoner with the Final Summoning."

After a moment a sly smile crept over her lips. "What's this 'we' stuff? You were just a spectator. _I_ smashed her flat."

"You would not have been there if not for me."

"Yeah, you being a suicidal _sunuh_."

"I like to think of myself as more… homicidal but with poor planning. Just like you."

"_Tysh_ right!" She smacked him on the butt. He, it seemed, had been anticipating it and his hand whacked into hers at precisely the same moment, actually lifting her off the floor with some force.

"Owwwww, jeez!" she howled.

He laughed and fled.


	16. Show Up, See What Happens

"So, how we gonna do this?" said Rikku, as the Gullwings and Leblanc Syndicate assembled on Bevelle's highbridge.

"Um…" said Yuna.

Auron laughed. _All three of us who survived battling Sin seem to charge in first and come up with a plan later, if at all._ "We head for the former monks' abbey. I should be able to find my friend there."

Leblanc's sneering voice cut in. "Why bother with some monk peon? We should nab the head honcho, make him lead us to Vegnagun, and… checkmate."

"My way is better," Auron said firmly.

"I had no idea the Gullwings were such cowards," said Logos. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."

"If you want to go ahead with your plan, be my guest," said Auron.

"Why did we bother teaming up with you amateurs at all?" said Leblanc. "I must say, for a Legendary Guardian and High Summoner, you two never fail to disappoint."

Rikku snorted. At that moment armed New Yevon guards approached.

"Who goes there?" said one.

"It's those Youth League spies!" said another. "We won't have you defile this place like you did in Kilika!" Guns snapped up to point at them.

"Well, good luck!" Leblanc said brightly, and took to her heels after Logos and Ormi.

"Good _luck_?" said Yuna.

"We're here to see Cronos," said Rikku. "We've got no beef with New Yevon!"

A shot rang out, and Auron and Paine drew their swords.

"_Hold_!" an older, bald New Yevonite in priest robes ran up, gasping for breath. Gullwings and guards kept their weapons ready. No one made a move as the priest arrived.

"Praetor… wants to see you," he wheezed.

"Good. We want to see him," said Yuna.

"Not you." The priest pointed at Rikku. "Just her."

The Gullwings looked at Rikku's startled expression.

"Me? Why?" said Rikku.

"Come with me. The rest of you, wait here," said the priest, waving a hand dismissively at them.

Auron stepped forward, shifting his grip on his sword meaningfully. The rifles locked on him. "I don't think so," he said.

"Auron, wait," said Rikku. "Why don't I just see what he wants, huh? This might be easier than we thought."

"Don't trust him, Rikku," said Paine. "He's cunning. He's praetor of New Yevon for a reason."

"I insist that Cronos be told that Auron is here and would like a word with him," said Auron.

"You're in no position to be making demands," said the priest. "Either she comes with us or you're leaving—in pieces, if necessary."

"Auron, I'll be fine," said Rikku, sheathing her daggers and stepping forward with empty hands spread.

"No," said the priest. "Leave your weapons."

Auron saw her eyes narrow, a stare-off between them. Rikku slowly took off the daggers and handed them to Yuna.

"Rikku…" said Yuna.

"Don't worry about me," said Rikku tightly. "I'm the Amazing Rikku, remember?"

Auron ground his teeth as the priest and two guards escorted her away.

"I don't like this," said Paine, unexpectedly.

"Me either," said Yuna. "What do they want with Rikku?"


	17. Machinations

Rikku's skin crawled the deeper she was led into the snaking corridors of Bevelle's basilica. She'd long since passed the number of guards she thought she could take on by herself.

_I hate to admit it_, she thought, _but I think Leblanc had the right idea, coming in here with guns blazing. What was I thinking? …Oh, right. Trademark Rikki thinking: none at all._

Grand double doors, two stories high, opened with the help of eerily silent machines, not a finger lifted from any of the guards surrounding them. She was ushered inside a room dripping with ornate gold fixtures, high curved vaulting, and dusty white tapestries emblazoned with Yevon's symbols.

In the middle of it all sat a rather utilitarian red and grey metal desk, white-haired youthful Praetor Baralai sitting behind it. A more familiar figure perched on the corner of it, one leg swinging off the ground, watching Rikku.

"You!" Rikku's surprised yelp echoed in the grand space. "What are _you_ doing here?"

The doors thudded shut with finality behind her. Rikku whirled, crouching instinctively. Guards lined the walls. High windows over sheer drops presented no reasonable avenues for escape. She turned back to Gippal, who was striding toward her.

"It's all right," he said. "We needed to talk to you in private."

"What do you mean 'we'?" she said. "What's going on here?"

"We wanted—I wanted—to ask you about this." He held up a sphere.

She eyed him suspiciously, then glanced at Baralai. Reluctantly, she took the sphere from him and activated it.

Through static she saw the velvet green spire-dotted Calm Lands. Her fingers went numb and a groan escaped her as the picture focused on the face of Lord Braska.

Younger Auron, in his monk's robes with pure black hair in a ponytail, strode beside the High Summoner. Bringing up the rear and talking animatedly with grand hand gestures strode the burnished, shirtless Jecht. Rikku heard a piercing feminine peal of laughter. She saw her own self, bouncing on the balls of her feet, face covered in mirth. She smacked Jecht on the rear. He chased after her, sending her flying on a diagonal closer to the camera. Her own features grew unmistakably clear, green Al Bhed eyes. The sphere darkened as the recording ended. The last thing Rikku saw was Auron's bemused smile in the distance.

Gippal removed the sphere from her limp hands and it vanished somewhere into his hidden pockets. She felt naked, exposed under that penetrating monocular stare.

"Where did you get this?" she whispered in slowly unfolding horror.

"Found it in the desert," he said.

"We're interested to hear any insights you have to shed on what you just saw," said Baralai. She jumped. She'd forgotten the praetor was there. Her shock washed away in sudden fury.

"What on earth possessed you to bring it to him?" She snapped at Gippal, jabbing a finger at Baralai.

"Now, now," said Baralai, lifting his hands. "New Yevon and the Machine Faction both want what's best for Spira's future."

"This isn't the future! This is the past—_long_ past!" she said, her voice rising. "And it's none of your business!" She lunged for Gippal, questing fingers seeking those pockets of his. He grabbed her wrist and swayed out of her reach.

"Rikku, will you listen to us first? I promise I'll hand over the sphere after you've heard us out, all right?" he said.

"Fine, you've got two minutes." She twisted her arm to broke out of his grip. She cradled her wrist with a glare at him.

"Thank you," said Baralai calmly. He gestured to the chair across the desk from him. "Please, have a seat."

"I'll stand. Clock's ticking, yahoos."

"You care about Spira's future and the survival of her people, whatever their allegiances. That much is clear. You are the only Al Bhed to ever have become a guardian—which you did for _two_ High Summoners—as well as a summoner. You helped defeat Sin twice and bring the Eternal Calm," said Baralai.

"Since I clearly remember you running around with no shirt on when you were four, I know you're not an unsent from ten years ago," said Gippal.

"You traveled back in time ten years and you were one of the first sphere hunters, which tells us you are at the very least curious and innovative," said Baralai.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, trying to control her trembling body and voice. "I was _five_ when Lord Braska defeated Sin. Time travel? You're nuts, both of you. Yeah, that sure looks like me, but I don't know anything about it."

"We need your help," said Gippal, ignoring this. "Desperately. The fate of Spira hangs in the balance. You may be our only hope."

"Oh, please." She rolled her eyes.

Baralai stood up and paced around the desk to her. "I know why you came to Bevelle. Vegnagun. That's why we've brought you here. If we could have, we would have destroyed it long ago. But we can't even touch it—and we can't convince Nooj of that."

"Nooj?" she said, her mind reeling. "What does he have to do with any of this?"

"I don't know," said Baralai. "He's trying to get to Vegnagun. We don't know why, but he must be stopped."

"Something happened to him, two years ago," said Gippal.

"If we could go back in time, we could find out what happened to him, and why. Nooj is powerful, and not to be trusted. We believe he'll stop at nothing to get to Vegnagun. And I cannot allow either him or you anywhere near that thing," said Baralai.

"It could destroy Spira," said Gippal. "Even I don't dare go anywhere near it. You know me, Rikku—there's not a machine on Spira I don't want to take apart and understand. Vegnagun is different. It's dangerous beyond measure."

She backed away from him, suffused with fury. "You've been _playing_ me! All this time! I wondered why you were being so nice, apologizing to me, making me dinner, giving me gifts—you were planning this all along! You _pycdynt_!"

"Rikku, please!" Gippal spread his hands. "This is not how I wanted this to go, but we're running out of time. Nooj is missing."

"He _must not_ get his hands on Vegnagun," said Baralai. "With it he could destroy Spira, more easily even than Sin."

"Then New Yevon are the last people on Spira who should have their corrupt hands on it!" she exploded. "It's Yevon secrets that kept Sin around for centuries, killing thousands and thousands of people and nearly wiping out the Al Bhed! They kept everyone on Spira powerless and _terrified_! They sacrificed their own High Summoners, and the greatest man I've ever known lost his life because of Yevon _lies_!"

"Braska," said Baralai.

She caught her breath and leaned back, cursing her own hotheadedness. She kept her mouth shut on all the things whirling in her head and throat, demanding to be shouted.

"This goes beyond personal, Rikku," said Baralai. "There are plenty of grudges and resentments to go around, and I don't blame you or anyone for holding Yevon accountable for its unforgivable crimes against Spira. We all lost plenty of good people. I want to see to it that that doesn't happen again. It may not seem like it to you, but Vegnagun is a different matter altogether than Sin. It has to be protected. Surely you of all people know some secrets are… dangerous, and best not spread around, for the well-being of everyone on Spira."

"Spira, Spira, Spira!" she spat. "I'm sick of your arrogance and your lies! You haven't given me one reason to trust you, and you expect me to help you keep your secrets without telling me _why_ it's so _tysh_ important that nobody touch your precious super-weapon that could destroy Spira! Is this your ace in the hole to make sure that New Yevon keeps its power?"

"I would see New Yevon go down in flames, Bevelle itself destroyed, you and me and anyone else necessary sent to the Farplane, before I see _anyone_ touch Vegnagun for any reason. Especially Nooj. And we don't know how to stop him. He's too powerful and determined. _Please_, Rikku. We're begging you."

"I'd get down on my knees, if it would help," said Gippal.

"It might," said Rikku.

Gippal shocked her by doing so without hesitation. "I know we've had our differences and you've got every right not to trust me. I wouldn't trust me, in your position. But we need your help."

She stared at him, mouth open.

"Take us back in time, two years," said Baralai. "All we want is to understand Nooj, to find out how to stop him. We don't want to kill him, if we don't have to—but we will, if necessary."

"And then what? Let the Youth League implode with infighting so you two can rule Spira in some secret alliance?" She shook her head. "Everything you've said and shown to me since I walked in here is sketchy to the max. Ten out of ten for inventiveness and shock value, but this little pageant is over, and I am out of here. That is, unless you want to try to keep me here, which I guarantee will get you into a world of hurt."

"What can I do to convince you how vital it is you help us?" said Baralai.

"Tell the truth, for starters!" she said. "What is Vegnagun? What does it do? What's Nooj's deal? What specifically is it that happened two years ago that's supposed to be so pivotal? Why are you two cooperating on this? I'm hearing a lot of vague threats, and no details, and yet you expect my help? No way!"

Baralai and Gippal exchanged a look as the latter got to his feet.

"We'll have to trust you," said Baralai. "The three of us—Nooj, Gippal, and myself—were assigned together as part of a squadron formed by the Crusaders. We'd trained together. We knew each other well. But something happened on our mission, at the bottom of Mushroom Rock Road. Something awful. The squad was slaughtered except for us, and Nooj shot us."

"We've been trying to figure out for two long years what happened that day," said Gippal, "but in the end we wound up with more questions than answers. Yes, I'm a bastard. And there's no excuse for what I've done. But I _am_ sorry for what happened between us, and I had hoped to have a lot more time to explain things, to try to get your help and show you just how important it is."

"All we ask is to be taken back to that day, two years ago, and learn the truth," said Baralai. "Please, Rikku."

"You're wasting your time. Even if I could do anything like what you're asking, you two are the last people on Spira I'd help! I don't trust you as far as I could throw you. I should expose you both!"

"With what? What could you say, that anyone would believe, or care about?" said Gippal. "Tell us how you traveled in time, Rikku. I hate to resort to threats, but we can make things very difficult for you and your friends."

Her lip curled in a snarl. "You changed your tune pretty fast, mister. Anyway, you wouldn't _dare_. High Summoner Yuna? The Legendary Guardian? They could eat both of you for breakfast, and they're heroes of Spira!"

"And why not you?" said Baralai. "Surely you're just as deserving of praise as they are. Why does no one know your remarkable role in Spira's history?"

"And do you want to keep it that way?" said Gippal meaningfully, eye glittering.

"This conversation is over. Your time is up. Hand it over." She thrust her hand at Gippal. For a minute she thought he wasn't going to give her the sphere as promised. Then, slowly, he produced it from seemingly nowhere and flipped it at her as if uncaring whether she caught it or it shattered on the floor. She caught and pocketed it.

She turned on her heel and strode for the doors, glaring fiercely ahead at nothing. The guards hesitated. She folded her arms, facing the shut doors, tapping her boot.

"Rikku…" said Baralai.

"I'm done talking!" she shouted. "Either you let me out of here or I start kicking _ycc_, and that'll just be the beginning of a _world_ of hurt when my friends figure out you're keeping me here!"

"Ask Paine," said Gippal. "About Nooj. She was there. She was the only other Crimson Squad member to survive. She knows how dangerous and untrustworthy he is. Or go back in time and see for yourself, and find a way to stop him."

She shot him a suspicious glare. On the heels of his words, one of the guards activated a panel, and the doors swung open. She stomped out. In her passionate fury she couldn't focus enough to remember her way out, getting lost after several turnings. All the corridors looked the same. Statue-like guards around her made no move to stop her.

_How could I have been so stupid?!_ She alternately raged at herself and Gippal. _How could I have let him play me like that—again? I thought I was so much smarter now, but oh, no, all he has to do is snap those well-manicured fingers and bring me to heel like a lupine! What is the matter with me? Stupid, stupid, stupid, Rikki! How could I have thought he really changed? He's worse than ever, if anything._

Under the anger she felt a hot little core of shame, thick as coal. Her mouth twisted at the memory of the bubbly effervescence she'd felt when she turned up for dinner with Gippal. She batted away other images that arose, of Auron sparring and laughing with Paine, and the low simmer that she'd desperately keeping on the back burner of her consciousness for ages. She shook her head, trying not to think about it, wishing she had some monsters to eviscerate.

As if granting her wish, she heard distant shouts and gunfire. The guards sprang to like and ran toward the noises. Rikku pounded after them.

_Sounds like Auron's making trouble_, she thought hopefully. _Or maybe Nooj. Either way, somebody's cruising for a Rikku-style beatdown!_

Sounds of battle intensified as she drew nearer. Rikku recognized the halls of Bevelle temple proper that she and Auron had visited over the past two years in search of spheres.

Fiends spawned in her path, tripping her up both in shock at their appearance and practical considerations of fighting, unarmed, on her own. Fortunately though she'd left her daggers behind she retained her stolen stockpile of explosives and other choice items.

Nevertheless she got caught in a pretty nasty face-off with a kukulcan basilisk, and didn't have on any accessories to ward off the petrification of its stone glare. She came back to herself, dizzy, to the sight of Auron's sly grin.

"Losing your edge, old-timer?" he said.

She rolled her eyes and theatrically clutched her back. "Well, you know. All these aches and pains, not as young as I used to be, can't seem to take on all of New Yevon by myself these days! Fetch my cane, whippersnapper?"

"Glad you could join us," said Paine, as the Gullwings clustered around her.

Rikku's eyes lingered on Paine. She shook herself. _Gippal's a liar. Always was, always will be._

"We got tired of waiting," said Auron.

"What did the praetor want?" said Yuna.

Rikku shook her head. "I don't trust anything I just heard."

"Were they trying to distract us, divide and conquer, perhaps?" said Auron.

"Let's just get to the bottom of this Vegnagun business, huh?" said Rikku. "I wanna see this dread machine for myself."

"We're wasting time, loves!" said Leblanc. "Unless you _want_ all of New Yevon to catch up with us. Try to keep up, will you, Dullwings?" She, Ormi, and Logos continued into the Cloister of Trials.

The Leblanc Syndicate seemed for the moment to still be allies. Despite believing nothing Baralai and Gippal had told her, Rikku didn't trust Leblanc either, not least because she was Nooj's girlfriend.

_Everybody's got too many secrets_, thought Rikku, _especially Spira's new leaders. I don't like it._

Down deep in the machine-clogged security core, below the empty Chamber of the Fayth, they set off an alarm. Red pulsating light suffused the air.

"Watch the exit!" Yuna said to Leblanc over the klaxons. Two huge machina sentries rose above the central core, scanning and waiting for them with cannons at the ready.

"I don't take orders!" Leblanc hesitated, then relented: "But… I'll make an exception this time. Leave it to us, love!"

There seemed no end to the windowless industrial depths under Bevelle. Rikku found the lack of any humans completely creepy. Stale air smelling of machine oil permeated everything. They reached a familiar huge automated machina swinging giant rust-colored metal cages around.

"Yunie!" said Rikku, rushing forward. "Wasn't that sphere with you-know-who in it recorded here?"

"Sure looks like it," said Auron, beside her.

Yuna eyed the machinery, her face unreadable.

Leblanc stalked forward imperiously. "Get your head out of the clouds and move it!"

* * *

"You _again_?" said Rikku, when Baralai appeared to block their path.

"I told you: I'll do anything to keep Vegnagun safe," said Baralai. "Did you really think it would be that easy?"

"What are you planning to do?" said Yuna.

"The only thing I can do," said Baralai, brandishing his staff. "Keep those who would seek to harm Vegnagun away. Rikku, unless you're going to help us, I have to ask all of you to leave."

"No way!" said Rikku, slashing her hand dismissively at him. "I've had enough of all your secrets and… and machinations!"

"Wait," said Auron, stepping between them. "What does Cronos have to say about this?"

Baralai shook his head. "This is none of his concern. If you will not leave I have to fight you. I cannot let you pass."

Paine strode forward, sliding her sword around to face Baralai. "I'm going."

"Paine!" said Baralai, shock evident in his features.

Rikku filed that under 'ask questions later.' She caught Auron's eye and they shared a nod. He knelt, hands cupped. She ran to jump into his grasp. With a little English on his throw she spun toward Baralai, daggers flashing.

The praetor fought passionately. His yells echoed up and down silent, gloomy corridors, staff whirling around his crouched body. Rikku, equally determined, fought alongside a surprisingly reluctant Paine.

Once Baralai was down for the count, Paine turned to face them.

"Sorry, I'm going ahead," said Paine.

"You can explain later," said Auron.

"Much later," said Paine, turning to run around the final curve in the corridor.

"Don't count on it," he said as he and Rikku followed.

A long rail-free bridge protruded like an outthrust metal tongue into a yawning metal chasm. Yuna led the charge to its circular point at the end of the road.

Bursting out of the depths, startling the four of them into recoil, Bahamut roared and spread its wings.

Rikku gasped. "No way!"

"What is it?" said Paine.

"It's an aeon!" said Rikku. "It can't be!"

The air vibrated with the king of dragons' roar. It hovered over them in a threatening posture, blue-black tail thrust high, dark spiky wings curved down as if to scoop them up.

"An aeon…" Yuna strode to the edge of the platform and flung her arms out. "_You must stop_!" she cried to it.

"Yuna!" said Auron, striding forward. "We must fight! Talk later." His hand landed on her shoulder, and she glanced back at him with a stricken look.

Rikku came abreast of her cousin, feeling ill herself. Paine drew her sword as Bahamut descended.

They fought the dragon in grim, determined silence, no one taking any pleasure in their victory as the aeon dissolved into pyreflies. Yuna sank to her knees. Paine approached to touch her shoulder.

"Who summoned it?" Rikku murmured to Auron. "And what fayth is still dreaming, that there can even be an aeon?" She looked up at him.

He shook his head. "I wouldn't care to speculate." He held her gaze. "The statue inhabited by Bahamut's fayth is long gone."

"Exactly. So what's it doing down here?" She shook her head. "I don't like this one bit, Auron." _I didn't think my feelings about Bevelle could get any grimmer_, she thought, _but between this and Baralai and Gippal, they have._

Yuna rose and turned to them. "We had to fight it… didn't we?"

Auron nodded. Rikku noticed that there seemed to be a lot more pyreflies swirling with their eerie cries than expected, and they weren't vanishing. She crept to the edge of the platform, fingers itching to perform a summoner's sending. In the far wall, a deep hole yawned open. It swarmed green with pyreflies.

"This is where Vegnagun was on that sphere we found, right?" said Rikku.

"This hole was made recently," said Yuna, joining her.

"By Vegnagun?" said Rikku.

"Or perhaps someone stealing Vegnagun?" said Auron.

"How deep do you think it goes?" said Rikku. "And where are all those pyreflies coming from?"

"What? Where's Vegnagun?" said Leblanc, arriving strategically after all the hard battles along with her henchmen. Rikku would have been pissed if she hadn't been so bewildered and anxious by everything they'd just seen.

"Not here," said Yuna.

"It must have fled in terror, knowing I was coming," sniffed Leblanc.

Auron laughed loudly. She turned up her nose with a sound of disgust, folding her arms, swiveling away from him.

"I must report to Noojie-Woojie at once," she said. "Boys, record this. Don't miss a single detail!"

"Yes, boss!" chorused Ormi and Logos, getting out their recorders and splitting up to start filming the whole lot of nothing going on.

"Vegnagun. Was it really here?" said Paine.

"And what do you know about it?" said Auron. "You're involved in this."

Paine shook her head. "I don't know anything about Vegnagun."

"But you do know something," said Auron.

Rikku peered at Paine as well, the back of her neck prickling, wondering if there was any truth to the last thing Gippal had said to her.

Yuna's receiver interrupted with Brother's voice, panicking as usual: "Yuna! We are in super doo-doo! Get back to Celsius on the double!"


	18. A Past Casts a Long Shadow

"Auron."

Auron, eyebrow lifted, turned to Paine while Yuna and Rikku charged down the sunny path to Besaid Village. He folded his arms.

Paine spread her hands. "I… have a history I don't like to talk about. But believe me, I know nothing more about Vegnagun than you do. And I would never hide something important from you or Yuna. Or Rikku. I thought you might understand… not wanting to share everything."

He let silence do the heavy lifting.

"Your respect is important to me," she said. "Your mentoring has been of great value to me, to say nothing of… your friendship. I hope I can still count on it." She cocked her head at his continued silence.

At last he relented. "You'll talk when you're ready." He turned to head into Youth League's headquarters, then paused, not quite turning his head all the way back to her. "I look forward to training you further. You… show promise in bushido."

He heard her footsteps running to catch up.

"Yunie!" said Rikku, running down from the temple steps. Yuna rose from her crouch by Lulu's and Wakka's tent with Shinra. Auron and Paine converged on them. "Yunie, something's up!" She pointed back the way she'd come, where Wakka appeared to be in a heated discussion, gesturing wildly, with an impassive man in a Youth League uniform.

"Who's that?" said Yuna.

"His name's Beclem. They say he's from the Youth League headquarters," said Rikku. As the Gullwings drew near they heard Beclem's strident voice.

"What's there to decide, Wakka?" he said. "We can finish off the fiends right here and now."

"Burning down the temple is going too far!" said Wakka.

"You have another suggestion?" said Beclem. "We have to do something. What if the fiends keep coming? Or maybe you don't mind putting your family in danger?"

"Hey! All we gotta do is stop the fiends, ya?" Wakka charged into the temple without another word. Beclem followed.

"Looks like trouble," said Auron.

"You said it," said Rikku. "C'mon, Yunie."

Beclem waited at the base of the steps up into the temple's Cloister of Trials, silver bird-like mask covering most of his face. He swiveled to face the Gullwings.

"Wakka's inside, fighting fiends," said Beclem. "It would be so simple to burn this place down and take the fiends with it. Praying to them never did anyone any good. You're the ones who defeated Sin. You should know."

Yuna headed for the stairs.

"Going to help him?" he said. "I won't wait much longer."

She turned back to him. "You want to see it burn that badly?"

His voice was cold. "It's for the safety of the village."

Wakka waited inside the fiend-infested Cloister, sitting panting against a wall. He looked up at their approach.

"Wakka!" said Yuna.

"Are you all right?" said Auron.

"Just a few scratches, eh?" he said, eyes lingering on Rikku. "Nothin' to worry about."

"There are too many," said Paine. "Let's get out while we can. The man was right: we have to use fire."

Wakka's head snapped up. "Whatever's controlling the fiends must be down there. Take that bad boy out…"

"…And we won't need fire." Yuna glanced at Paine.

"Fair enough," said Paine, and headed onto the elevator platform. Auron and Rikku followed.

Yuna knelt by her old friend. "Wakka, stay here."

"Why?" said Wakka.

Yuna strode over to Rikku, who chirped, "Wouldn't want you to overdo it, _Daddy_."

"Rikku!" said Wakka, struggling to rise, even as the elevator engaged and dropped into the floor. "Wait, Rikku!"

The orange-haired blitzballer caught up with them, clutching his side, as they reached the former Chamber of the Fayth and found a shadowy Valefor hovering, waiting for them.

"An aeon?" said Wakka.

"No…" said Yuna. "Something's not right…"

Auron drew his sword. "Keep your distance. This is our fight."

Wakka gasped. "Fight… an aeon?!"

The four of them fought without calling encouragements to one another, as when they had fought Bahamut. Rikku and Yuna seemed particularly grim, Paine as impassive as ever. As Valefor dissolved in pyreflies Wakka approached.

"That was my very first aeon," Yuna said sadly.

"Hmm," said Paine.

"I grew up here in Besaid," said Yuna. "This is my home. I became a summoner here. I have to protect this place."

"Yuna… what's happening?" said Wakka. "And Rikku, what's this rumor going around about you?"

"Oh, probably the same as always," Rikku scoffed. "You know better than to listen to rumors, Wakka."

"Yeah, but… this is about Lord Braska, ya know?" said Wakka.

Auron's flesh crawled. He saw Rikku pale.

"Is this really the time?" said Paine. "We should tell them not to burn down the temple with us inside."

"She has a point," said Auron. "Let's go." He propped up the still-stricken Wakka. "You need to be more careful," he said in an undertone to his friend as they followed the girls out. "You have responsibilities now."

Wakka grunted, but did not waste his breath speaking.

Beclem waited outside the Cloister.

"The job's done," said Paine, descending to meet him.

"I see," said Beclem. "Glad to see you're not hurt. Or… are you?" He craned to look at Wakka as Auron helped him down the stairs. "Aren't you going to be a father soon? What if something had happened to you? What then?" He turned and walked out.

"Meanie," said Rikku.

"It's okay," said Wakka. "You're right, all of you. Thought I was doing the right thing, protecting my family, but I got too caught up in saving the temple when it might have been safer to burn it." He propped himself against the foot of the statue of High Summoner Braska.

"Wakka…" said Yuna.

"I'd give anything to get a chance to talk to my parents," said Wakka. "Maybe I could stop making dumb headed moves like this one, if… if I had some kind of guidance. Seeing 'em on the Farplane's not the same. They're just memories, there." He looked at Rikku. "'Memories are nice, but that's all they are.' It's an Al Bhed saying, ya? We had a lot to worry about, back at the beginning of the Eternal Calm, when you told us what you did. Never seemed right to ask more, if you didn't want to talk about it. Now they're saying there's records about Lord Braska's third guardian, ya? And I got to thinking… if there was any way I could go back, just enough to see my parents one more time, to ask them what I should do… Rikku… I'd do anything. Please. For my family. So I can stop making a mess of things."

Auron glanced at Rikku, whose eyes had lifted to the face of Braska's statue. Tears brimmed in her eyes.

"I can't," she whispered. "A fayth sent me. I can't do it again. I…" She looked at Yuna and her eyes spilled over. "I'm so sorry, Yunie!" She shot another glance at the statue. "I'm sorry, uncle." She ran out of the temple.

"What's going on?" said Paine.

Yuna's stricken eyes met Auron's. She took to her heels after her cousin, boots echoing loudly away in the temple.

"Aw, man," Wakka rubbed the back of his neck. "I really put my foot in it this time, ya?" He glanced at Auron. "Tell her I'm sorry, Auron. I shouldn't have said anything."

Auron sighed. "It is… understandable for you to want this. It doesn't make it any easier for her to say no. Especially to you. You are her friend. She cares deeply about you and Lulu, and your future."

Wakka looked haggard, slumped against the statue. "Why'd she do it, Auron? Why'd she go back?"

"It is not my story to tell." Auron reached out a hand, grasped Wakka's, and pulled the groaning orange-haired man to his feet. "Let's get you to bed. You should be more worried about the _ramm_ you're going to catch from Lulu."

"So can you at least tell me when it was you started swearing in Al Bhed?" said Wakka, limping out of the temple. "That girl's a bad influence on you, you know that?"

He grinned. "The worst."

Paine went her own way outside the temple, silent in her thoughts. Lulu did indeed have some freezing-cold stares and short, clipped words for Wakka as she helped him into bed. He came over all contrite and played up his wound even more to garner sympathy. After putting him down with some sleepweed she stepped outside with Auron.

"Thank you," she said.

"Of course," he said.

"I presume you've heard the rumors about Rikku?" she said.

He nodded. "If they've made it to Besaid, they're surely all over Spira by now."

Her brief smile didn't reach her eyes. "We are rather isolated. I warned Yuna that there are those who would want to use her because she is the High Summoner who brought the Eternal Calm. Until now, there has not been reason for Rikku to fear. Now that time is past."

He folded his arms, mirroring her pose, and looked across the once-more peaceful village center. A noisy sigh escaped through his nose.

"You are always welcome to stay the night if you wish," she said. "If you must leave before I see her, please convey my concerns to Rikku. She likes to seem strong and carefree, but you and I know the vulnerability she hides. We each have our own way of doing the same."

"Where did the rumors come from?" he said. "The temple? Visitors?"

"I can't be sure. It seemed to reach everyone at once and spread like wildfire. There is much travel on Spira these days, between the sphere hunters, tourists, and the different organizations. They are freed of the threat of Sin in the oceans that once deterred all travelers but summoners and the most determined."

"A fayth enabled her to travel in time. Without the fayth she and Yuna are no more powerful than the rest of us, but reputations can influence how we are treated. The question is, what sort of a reputation will grow up around Rikku, now that the truth is out?"

"I wonder. I hear access to the Farplane in Guadosalam has been closed to those seeking memories of the dead. Our only links to the past are spheres and memories now. People still long for a connection with those who were lost."

"Well." He opened his arms, and she stepped into his embrace. "Let us know through the commsphere if your husband gets a wild hair for some ill-considered scheme again. Ill-considered schemes are the Gullwings' domain, and we would prefer to keep it that way."

She released him, smiling again. "Take care of yourselves."

"And you." He gave her swollen stomach a tender touch, shared a nod, and went off in search of Yuna and Rikku.

* * *

"Auron, hey! How's it hangin'?" Datto clapped his hand into Auron's and pulled him in to thump his friend on the back.

"I am well, and yourself?" said Auron, as the grinning other Aurochs assembled around him in the Youth League lodge.

"Hangin' in there. Beclem's working us hard." said Datto. "We're doing our best."

"Sorta miss blitzball, but it wasn't the same without the Cap'n," said Jassu. "If he wasn't about to be a father, maybe we could persuade him to join us. Rather follow his orders than Beclem."

"You'll live," said Auron. "Beclem's a chirpy little monkey compared with some of the monks I worked with in Bevelle. Did any of you happen to see Rikku and Yuna pass by?"

Their smiles evaporated and they glanced at each other, ending up looking to Datto. Datto shifted his weight.

"We saw them heading for the beach. Auron… is it true, what they're saying about Rikku?" said Datto.

"It's a private matter," said Auron firmly.

"You… trust her, though, ya?" said Datto.

"With my life." Auron turned to go.

"She's an Al Bhed!" Letty burst out.

Auron stopped in the doorway. The back of his neck prickled at the sound of prejudice he hadn't heard to his face in quite a long time. His voice remained calm in spite of his unease. "What of it?"

"We know she's a friend of yours and the Cap'n's and Lady Yuna's," Datto said nervously. "And the Al Bhed have never given us any trouble. We've got plenty more reason to distrust Yevon, ya? But we're hearing she traveled in time, became a summoner, and no one knows what she did it for. Somebody with that much power, not loyal to Al Bhed or Yevon or the Youth League either? Hanging out with the most famous people on Spira as a sphere hunter? Why?"

Auron turned to face them. "I am called with some reverence the 'Legendary Guardian' because I guarded two High Summoners who defeated Sin, and helped bring the Eternal Calm. Rikku is no less deserving of this reverence, and she acted because she believed in her heart it was the right thing to do. This in spite of the fact that her people openly defied Yevon and the pilgrimages. If it matters at all where she came from, or what she did, it matters because she overcame obstacles we did not.

"Our choices to become guardians, summoners, to fight Sin in these ways, these choices—though not easy—were not barred from us. I began by doing what was expected of me as a Yevon monk. She began by defying everything she was raised to be and standing up to those who would have forbidden her entrance to the temples. Because of the extraordinary courage of her and a few others, Spira is safer. It is her business. Her story. I'll thank you to put a stop those that would gossip maliciously about a dear friend of those you look up to."

As he spoke, their eyes grew rounder. It was probably the longest and most thoughtful speech they'd ever heard from him. They exchanged speechless glances.

He left.

* * *

Paine paced the shore down at the beach, shading her eyes from the imminent orange sunset blast to look up onto ledges among thick greenery. As Auron approached she dropped her hand.

"So," she said. "We all have secrets."

He nodded.

"I was shown a sphere in the temple. A copy. It's from ten years ago, High Summoner Braska's pilgrimage with his three guardians." She paused. "You look older. Rikku… doesn't."

He held her gaze impassively.

"I don't need to know why, or how. I don't need to know any of it. I just thought _you_ should know—it seems that copies of the sphere have been sent to the temples. If I had to speculate, I'd say New Yevon is behind it. But it could just as easily have been planted. Is she in danger?"

"The manner and tone of this suggest no positive intentions. I do not like to guess what it means for her. I have every intention of watching her back and protecting her from whatever is coming."

"I want to help."

He lifted an eyebrow.

"She's my friend. And I owe her. She believed in me enough to let me join, even knowing nothing about me. And even over your objections." She raised her own brow at him.

He snorted. "You… eavesdropped? It seems you're just as nosy as we are."

"I _am_ a sphere hunter."

"And you understand about secrets. Good thing you are on our side."

She stretched. "I could use a little practice."

"Yes, you could."

Her body shifted, every muscle suddenly taking on a coiled, deliberate stance. "All right, Legendary Guardian." She unsheathed her sword. "Show me your moves."


	19. Revelations

Rikku flipped back and forth between dresspheres, seeking the most satisfying way to vent her rage on the fiends. Having Yuna alongside, switching herself from Gunner to Alchemist to White Mage, gave Rikku a sense of solidarity even though neither spoke.

Frying flans with black magic gave Rikku a special thrill, but so did cleaving with her Auron-like blade and most especially rocking out the Berserker. Something about being in it really unleashed her full battle fury, and let her every muscle howl in rage. It felt like being in some blood-fueled blood-soaked trance. She even felt tempted to lick the faux fur of her costume after a particularly violent battle.

The fiends along the waterfall path didn't present enough of a challenge to suit her. Yuna loyally followed Rikku into the dim pyrefly-haunted depths of Besaid's beachside cave, deep into the depths beyond the second ciphered lock.

Something about Dark Knight really appealed to Rikku in the cave. The pain of using the Darkness attack gave her a rush of endorphins and effectively blotted out all memory and emotion, focusing her solely on the pain of the present and awareness of every aching cell of her body.

_This is pain, this is now_, she felt all the way to the roots of her hair. Blocking out memory and thought was a special ecstasy all its own for her. She went a little too far and had to swap out for White Mage to heal herself while Yuna finished off the Haunt with her Gun Mage Blue Bullet skills.

After the battle, Yuna, panting and grinning, turned expectantly to Rikku. Rikku stared at the staff she held. In the absence of pain nothing stood between her and the memory of holding a similar staff—Braska's—standing over his dead body on the Zanarkand shore. She remembered dancing, twirling, water surging and fountaining under her feet. Pyreflies dancing into the sky, never to return. The body of her uncle dissolving and leaving glittering bare black rocks and sand.

Rikku's face twisted. She threw the staff down with an animal yell. She stalked out of the cave, her path unencumbered by fiends. By the time she reached the entrance she was running, blinded by tears and unable to escape the memories no matter how hard her feet propelled her away.

Daylight burst around her. She tripped and fell on hands and knees in the sandy dirt. The sound of voices approaching flipped Rikku's head up. She scrambled to her feet, stricken. The last thing she wanted was company.

"Hey," said Yuna. "I know a private place nearby. C'mon." She tugged at Rikku's elbow, drawing her off the main path to a grassy cliff overlooking the ocean.

Yuna gave her cousin a shove, to her shock. Rikku instinctively kicked off from the cliff face and twirled into as graceful a dive as she could manage on short notice. She struggled to transform out of the heavy robes of White Mage in desperation so she wouldn't sink like a stone. The water smacked her awkwardly. When she surfaced, she saw Yuna beckoning, swimming off around the edge of the island. Rikku followed.

They came ashore at a hidden cove, surrounded by high cliff walls, made a tiny nook by high tide. Only determined swimmers could access this place navigating the whirlpools and sharp rocks just beneath the surface.

"I come here when I want to be alone." Yuna shook out her wet hair before she plopped down in the sand next to her cousin. "I'm a lot better at holding my breath than I used to be, although I don't think I'm destined to be a star blitzballer."

Rikku clutched her knees to her chest. Her throat felt so thick she couldn't have spoken even if she wanted to. She half-turned her head. The queasiness in her stomach intensified at the thought of meeting Yuna's eyes in this state.

"Then again, I never thought I'd do a lot of things I'm doing now," said Yuna. "Every day a new dressphere, a new set of skills, a new mission."

Rikku leaned her head on her knee, soothed by Yuna's words.

"I like your stress busting techniques," said Yuna. "Sometimes I'm a little too much of a pacifist. Holdover from my training as a summoner. There's something so satisfying about laying waste to a whole bunch of fiends. Quite a workout, too!"

Rikku managed to meet Yuna's eyes and they shared a smile.

"It's nice, all the different ways we've got of kicking _ycc_," said Rikku. "You're looking fine in that Lady Luck getup, too! You've got some awesome moves. I'm glad to lure you to the dark side with the ways of violence to blow off steam."

Yuna grinned. "You seem to really love Berserker and Dark Knight. I couldn't keep using Darkness like you do! You've got a pretty high pain tolerance."

"One word: accessorize!" Rikku showed off her Mythril and Titanium Bangles.

"You've got a flair for looking fine, that's for sure! Whatever dressphere you're wearing." Yuna cuddled Rikku and they looked out at the setting sun.

After a little peaceful quiet, Yuna spoke again. "When I was little I used to love listening to stories about my mother. How headstrong she was, how beautiful. When she had her heart set on something, nothing could stop her. Her own family disowned her when she decided to marry a non-Al Bhed. My father was very kind and quiet, yet just as determined as she was. When something needed to be done, he didn't leave it to someone else."

Rikku felt a yawning pit re-open down deep inside. She half-wanted to pull away, and half-wanted to just bury her face in her cousin's shoulder or the sand around them to drown out the words.

"I think the hardest thing in the world for him was choosing to leave me here and go fight Sin," Yuna continued, seemingly oblivious to Rikku's silent implosion. "He did it because he didn't want what happened to my mother to happen to me. He didn't want me to grow up in such a dangerous world, even if it meant I would grow up without him. I guess he was sort of like Wakka in that way. He saw it as his duty to save everyone, so his family would be safe. If I'd grown up to be anything but a High Summoner I think my own blood have would rebelled. And if you'd turned out to be anyone but the Amazing Rikku, well… we just couldn't be other than we are." She gave Rikku a squeeze.

Rikku, shaking with in-held sobs, threw her arms around Yuna. "I tried… so… hard!" Rikku gasped. "I tried so hard… to stop him! I didn't… know… how to beat Sin… without… without…"

Yuna's fingers feathered Rikku's back. "I know. We had to figure that out together."

Rikku cried harder. _All this time I've held in the words I wanted to and was afraid to say to you,_ she thought,_ and now I can't even manage to breathe enough to say them…_

"I'm glad you got to meet him. I hope… I hope someday you'll tell me the story."

With monumental effort Rikku got her tears under control and pulled away. She wiped her face ineffectually on her seawater-sopping scarf. _Do I want to do this?_ She felt her tears only barely at bay as she regarded her cousin. Her hand fingered the clasp of one of her hidden pockets. At length she threw caution to the wind, opened her pouch and pulled out a sphere. She passed it to Yuna.

Yuna activated it. Once more the Calm Lands of twelve years ago filled its crackly display. Yuna gasped at the sight of her father. Rikku hugged her knees again, swallowing hard as she watched. Yuna inhaled sharply again at the sight of Rikku smacking Jecht on the rear and then rushing toward the camera. The display darkened, feeling like a fresh death in Rikku's soul.

Yuna's eyes flicked up and met Rikku's. Rikku angrily scrubbed at her eyes, wishing she could just reach inside and seal up the tear-leaking hole in her heart like the pyrefly-leaking hole at the bottom of Bevelle.

Yuna set the sphere aside and hugged Rikku again. "Thank you," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Thank you. I've always wanted to see this. It means so much to me."

Rikku tightened her arms around Yuna, sniffling. "I just want to keep going, okay, Yunie? I've wanted to apologize to you for two years, but I didn't want to talk about it. Can we keep going, please? You can have the sphere."

Yuna smiled tearfully as she pulled back and stroked Rikku's face. "Hey, there's nothing to apologize for. And you never have to talk about anything you don't want to. If you don't want the sphere, I'd be happy to keep it for you, but if you ever want it back, just say the word. I know they all meant a lot to you too."

Yuna lifted Rikku's chin and smiled at her. "You, the Amazing Rikku, got me out of myself. You made me a sphere hunter, a Gullwing! I'm having the time of my life. Of course we can keep going! Just see if you can stop me! C'mon, let's keep taking Spira by storm. Let's go kick some more fiend _ycc_!"

Rikku grinned in relief, while Yuna pocketed the sphere. Yuna scrambled up and held out a hand to pull Rikku up. They dove back into the ocean to swim around to the main beach access.

They found Auron and Paine sitting together on the beach, swords stuck in the sand, reflecting purple twilight and casting long thin shadows. Rikku felt a queer twist in her heart, but she felt so churned up inside anyway. Gippal's parting words echoed in her head again as she caught Paine's eye. _"She was there. She was the only other Crimson Squad member to survive."_

"Everything all right?" Auron murmured to Rikku.

She forced a sunny grin. "Right as rain! C'mon, we've got work to do!"

He gave her a knowing look, clearly not fooled. She stuck her tongue out at him, looped her arm through Yuna's, and strutted up the beach with nose in the air and heart like a lead box in her chest.

* * *

"Gullwings here. Where are the fiends?" Yuna said to Yaibal as they approached Mushroom Rock Road. Rikku stole a glimpse at Paine, impassive as ever.

"No need for concern, Lady Yuna," said Yaibal. "Everything's under control. The fiends got close to our headquarters, but thankfully no further. The Al Bhed from Djose assisted us in fighting them off."

This got Rikku's attention. "Gippal was here?"

"Yes. His group also brought us these machina." Yaibal gave her a strange look. "He also told us that you traveled back in time, two years ago, Rikku. Said he'd seen evidence. I'm hearing it from other places, too. Is it true?"

Rikku felt all eyes on her from her teammates and the other Youth League members gathered. She squirmed inside, unsure what to say.

"Only… if you could go back… we could change the past. We lost a lot of good people two years ago, in that assault on Sin not far from here. Not to mention all the years of Sin's reign of terror over Spira," said Yaibal.

"If I could save them, Yaibal, I would," she sighed at last. "I can't. Anyway, don't trust anything Gippal says. He may have helped out with your machina, but he's not as goody-goody as he seems. If he helped you, you can be sure he had a reason all his own."

He looked uncomfortable.

She shook her head. "Let's focus on right now, huh?"

Lucil jogged up at that moment. "Lady Yuna, if I may interrupt, there is something I would like to ask you." She took Yuna off to the side to speak lowly with her. Rikku stretched, strolling away from the stares on her, uncomfortable. Auron drew close.

"I'm afraid there are copies of a sphere circulating around Spira's temples, of you on Braska's pilgrimage," he murmured.

"_Tysh_!" Rikku swore. "I should have known he'd never have given me that sphere if he hadn't made copies." She kicked a rock so hard it soared off the cliff and down to the rocky shore below. She buried her fingers in her braids, squeezing her head. "That _pycdynt_. He played me from the start! All those lies, the fake nicey-nice act, 'Oh Rikku, I'm so sorry about being a total tool to you all those years ago.'" She gave him a sour look. "You must think I'm a total naïve childish idiot."

"Of course not. You have my support. Always," he said. He folded his arms with a sigh, peering out across the sea. "I fear questions like Yaibal's are going to continue to come up."

She shook her head, then noticed Paine had joined them. Rikku let her hands drop, meeting the swordswoman's gaze.

"Baralai and Gippal wanted me to take them back in time, find out what happened to Nooj on the Crimson Squad exercise," Rikku said to her. "We saw Nooj there, down at the Den of Woe, trying to get into that cave. That's where it happened, isn't it? You were there, you'd know more than I do."

Paine's lips parted. She'd gone white as a sheet. Rikku had never seen the imperturbable young woman look so shaken.

Auron shifted, maintaining a very inviting silence.

Rikku spread her hands. "I don't know what to believe. Gippal and Baralai, working together? Old pals with Nooj? The four of you the only survivors of some kind of disaster at the bottom of Mushroom Rock Road—and Nooj trying to get into that sealed cave? They said Nooj is after Vegnagun, and he's missing. So is Vegnagun."

Yuna came up at that moment, forestalling whatever Paine might have eventually said to fill the tense air after Rikku's words.

"Lucil asked me if we'd had any word about where Meyvn Nooj has vanished to," said Yuna. "I told her if we saw him, we'd tell him to come back here." She glanced from Auron and Rikku to Paine. "Something wrong?"

Paine turned to Yuna. "I… I don't know. It's all connected, somehow. But I don't know how." She sighed and tweezed the bridge of her nose. "Something… happened here, two years ago, down at the Den of Woe. Something I still don't understand. Nooj was involved. So were Baralai and Gippal. I was a sphere recorder assigned to their team, as part of the Crimson Squad. We were the only four to survive." She looked imploringly at Rikku. "Honestly, Rikku, I don't know what happened then either. It's been two years, and nothing else has happened. We've never talked about it, or at all, since it happened. I think we all wanted to put it behind us. I don't see what this has to do with Vegnagun, or Nooj's disappearance. What happened was…" She trailed off, lowering her eyes. "It was a nightmare."

Yuna put a reassuring hand on Paine's shoulder. Paine gave her an agonized look, and Yuna embraced her. Paine stiffly returned the hug. Rikku glanced at Auron, who seemed just as lost for words.

"Rikku…" Paine reached for Rikku's hands. "You trusted me, even knowing nothing about me, and made me a part of the Gullwings. It's hard for me to trust anyone, but I do trust you. If you'll still have me as part of the team, I want to help out. I want to get to the bottom of all this just as badly as you do. And I promise, if it turns out there's something I know that can be of help, I will."

Rikku smiled halfheartedly and squeezed Paine's hand. "Thanks. It'd be nice to know the truth. I don't trust Baralai or Gippal—_or_ Nooj."

"Why don't we go corner Gippal, ask him what his deal is—why he's spreading these spheres around and telling people this spiel about you?" said Paine. "I may not know him as well as you, but I know a couple of pressure points, and I could lean on him. Two against one, right?"

"_Four_ against one, you mean!" Yuna punched the air. "Yeah! Nobody messes with our Rikku and gets away with it!"

"Thanks. …Hey?" Rikku found herself squished in the middle of the three of them, hugging her. Auron's bear arms around the outside squeezed all three girls until they shrieked with laughter.

"Ayco, besb syh!" said Rikku, shoving him off with her shoulderblades.

He laughed heartily; Paine made a strangled noise. Rikku narrowed her eyes and tilted her head at Paine. Paine schooled her face into her trademark blank look.

_I think you know more Al Bhed than we might think_, thought Rikku.

* * *

The four Gullwings breezed into Gippal's office. He looked up from a sphere, quickly deactivating it, and rose to his feet.

"Hi," said Paine, marching right up to him. "I hear you're spreading rumors around about my friend Rikku. And me."

"People have a right to know the truth…" He stopped in shock; her sword pressed against his throat, trapping him between the wall and her cold anger. Auron, behind her, meaningfully unshouldered his own blade and tilted it to catch the light along its razor edge.

"All I have to do is yell," said Gippal.

"Funny," said Paine. "All I have to do is push."

"Too bad all this anger is misplaced," said Gippal. "I'm not the threat, you know. Nooj is. Or don't you remember?"

"That was two years ago, and a flimsy justification for what you're doing," said Paine. "Which is what, exactly?"

"Trying to find out what happened two years ago before Nooj kills us all," said Gippal. "We needed Rikku's help. We even asked nicely. Not my fault she's a self-centered _pnyd_ who's appointed herself the final word in who lives and who dies on Spira."

Auron laughed. "Were that true, you should count yourself lucky."

"Can't we work this out peacefully?" said Yuna, spreading her hands. "Paine, Auron, Gippal—please. Let's try talking to him."

Gippal glanced from Yuna to Rikku, who'd taken up a position leaning against the wall, saying nothing. Paine reluctantly stepped back to release him from her grasp. She sheathed her sword. Auron didn't. He backed off a step, placing himself between Gippal and Rikku.

"Now what is this about?" said Yuna. "The three of you and Paine were on an exercise two years ago, and the whole squad was slaughtered except for you four. What does that have to do with now?"

"Nooj shot us," said Gippal. "No warning. And up until then, he showed no sign of betrayal. Now he's after Vegnagun. He must be stopped at all costs. Vegnagun could destroy Spira, Lady Yuna. Talk some sense into your cousin, please."

"Leave Rikku out of this," said Yuna. "Whatever happened in the past, we need to focus on what's going on now. What _is_ Vegnagun? What makes it so dangerous? Why not just destroy it?"

"It can't be destroyed," Gippal said flatly. "Believe me, if it could have, Baralai and I would have done it by now. It can't even be touched."

"Except someone has," said Rikku. "It's missing, too."

Gippal paled. "Then… it may already be too late." He darted toward the door. Auron flicked his sword up as if it weighed no more than a feather.

Gippal froze, wide eye on the swordsman. "Auron. Please. You said you owe me. Let me pass and we'll call it square. You have no idea how important this is. I'll leave Rikku alone, I promise."

"Too late," said Auron. "You should have considered that before. We will take you to Bevelle—all of us. No more secrets. No more lies. But first, we call at Guadosalam. Leblanc may know more of Nooj's whereabouts."

Gippal threw up his hands. "You're wasting time we don't have!"

"With the airship, we have time you wouldn't on your own," said Auron. "Do you want to do this the easy way, or the hard way?"

Gippal slumped, but with a sparkle in his eye that put Rikku on alert. "All right," he said, rather overdoing it on the 'defeated' voice. He caught Rikku's eye and held it.

_You know I know_, she thought. _I'm wise to you, buster, and I'm keeping my eyes on you._


	20. Desperately Seeking Noojie-Woojie

Yuna paused in the doorway of Chateau Leblanc. "Auron? You coming?"

"I'll join you shortly." Auron's hand rested firmly on Gippal's collar while the girls entered the building. Gippal glanced up at Auron.

"Something wrong?" said Gippal.

Auron gave him a tight smile and then punched him in the face. Gippal howled, staggering backward, bringing his hands up to clutch a nose flowering with blood.

Auron strode forward, grabbed the man under the chin, and carried the reeling Al Bhed all the way to the rock wall. The breath slammed out of Gippal with a heavy _whuff_.

Auron held him supported by the jaw, no pressure on the young man's windpipe, and used his other hand to pin Gippal's right arm to the wall. Gippal scrabbled at Auron's grasp with his other hand, trying to kick.

"Fnee-rae-de dne-raah fnuee-lu-gee?" Gippal said, Al Bhed words garbled, blood flowing into his mouth.

"I will say this once," Auron said coolly. "Do not _vilg_ with Rikku again if you value your life. This is a friendly warning. Take a moment to consider how much less friendly it could have been."

"I dob'd fknow what you're dalking aboud!" Gippal struggled. "Led be go!"

"I do not tolerate those who would use, manipulate, or undermine my friend through coercion or malicious gossip," said Auron. "I suggest you rethink your strategies and refocus your energy on cleaning up your act. There are secrets I know you would wish kept untold about your past. For the time being we may be able to assist each other. This does not make you my trusted ally. If you so much as lay a finger on her again you can kiss it goodbye."

Auron dropped the gasping Gippal on the ground and stood over him. Gippal coughed. He prodded at his face, whimpering. Auron tossed him a black handcloth he used for cleaning his blade. Gippal shot him a pained, anxious look, then scrambled to his feet, clutching the cloth to his face.

"I'm glad we understand one another." Auron clapped Gippal on the back so heartily the younger man stumbled. "Let's join the others, shall we?"

* * *

Auron followed the voices into the Chateau's living room. Ormi, Logos, Rikku, Yuna, and Paine gathered around a sphere, a pile of inactive ones beside them on the couch. A recognizable face among the static spoke.

_"You're wrong!" he said. "If you'd stop attacking, there wouldn't be a war!"_

_ "We're not falling for that," said a man off-screen._

_ "Someday… your precious weapons will end up destroying you," said the unfamiliar voice from Tidus's face._

The sphere darkened.

"…He's probably referring to the Machina War of a thousand years past."

They all turned as Maechen entered.

"When did you sneak in, old man?" said Logos. "Oh, and look. The 'Legendary Guardian' has brought us another Al Bhed miscreant."

"Gippal!" shrieked Rikku, leaping up and running toward him. "Auron, what the _vilg_ happened?"

"I dneserved id," Gippal said contritely.

Rikku shot Auron a murderous glare, transformed into White Mage and did her best to heal Gippal. "I can fight my own battles, _sunuh_!" she hissed to Auron.

Auron didn't reply.

"Can we get _on_ with it?" said Logos.

"What do you know of this?" Yuna said to Maechen, holding up the sphere.

"You can't expect me to remember everything that happens!" said Maechen. "I must admit, the likeness is positively uncanny."

"It can't really be him… can it?" said Yuna.

"I'm afraid not. After all, that sphere was recorded a thousand years ago," said Maechen.

"Right…" Yuna's shoulders slumped. "Of course."

"C'mere," said Rikku, leading Gippal to a chair and sitting him down. "Sorry about that, sometimes he seems to feel he's my pop or something. You're a lying _pycdynt_, but so's he."

"I'b sorry, Riggu," said Gippal.

"Oh, please. Save it." Rikku plopped down next to Yuna, and said to her, "Carry on." Rikku shot another glare at Auron.

"Would you like to hear more?" said Maechen.

Yuna nodded. "Please go on."

"Lady Yuna, a rumor has been going around of late," said Maechen.

Auron tensed. Rikku also stiffened. Paine's hand went unconsciously to her sword, most likely more a habitual reaction to anxiety than preparation for violence at another iteration of the rumors concerning Rikku.

"Perhaps you've heard it," said Maechen. "They say that High Summoner Yuna was accompanied by a guardian from, of all places, Zanarkand!"

Everyone audibly breathed out, except Logos and Ormi, who seemed disinterested and wandered away.

Maechen continued, "Oh, yes, that young man raised quite a few eyebrows at the blitzball tournament in Luca. I spoke to him myself on a number of occasions. I could sense that he belonged to an otherworld. That he should look so much like the man in that sphere cannot be mere coincidence, I should think."

"There's a connection," said Yuna.

"There is. I would very much like the chance to ask him, and clear this matter up once and for all," he said.

"But… he's gone," she said. "Just like the fayth said. 'Our dream will vanish.'"

"A dream of the fayth? Is that right…" He looked thoughtful. "…Oh, my!"

"What? What is it?" said Rikku, leaning forward eagerly.

"I had something on the tip of my tongue," said Maechen. "But then it slipped away… Something very important… Frustrating."

Disappointment radiated from Rikku and Yuna.

"Well, I suppose I'll just have to think on it a little more," said Maechen. "Until next time, Lady Yuna. We are all connected. There may yet be a way to reunite with those who have gone."

"What?" chorused Yuna and Rikku, as the former stood up suddenly.

"Watch what you say," said Paine.

Maechen's eyes focused on Rikku. "I hear tell of other rumors, of a face out of a time much closer at hand. Someone who has already reunited with those who have gone. Someone who perhaps could hold the key to all this?"

"No," said Rikku flatly. "The fayth who sent me is gone. No more dreams."

"No more dreams?" said Maechen. "Interesting. I heard there was a sphere about how to make a dreaming fayth out of a living soul."

Yuna gasped. "What?"

"It is said that Lord Jyscal's wife took it with her to Baaj Temple, and with its knowledge became the fayth of her son's summoning," said Maechen.

"Yeah, I heard thad doo," volunteered Gippal. "Remember, Auron? Nhadala dold us."

"Forget it," said Rikku. "Destroyed. Like a lot of other spheres in that damp bat-infested _rammruma_."

"And good riddance," said Auron. "The last thing we need is more sacrifice."

"Yes. Yes, of course," said Yuna. Her eyes lingered on Rikku. Rikku shook herself and left, Yuna trailing.

"Come on, you," said Paine, grabbing Gippal by the arm. "There's a doctor in town. We'll see about getting that nose of yours set."

"Hey, easy, easy!" said Gippal. "Injured man here!"

"Don't be such a big baby," said Paine.

Auron hesitated at the door. He knew he'd gone too far with Gippal and sensed Rikku itching to take it out of his hide. Not eager to face her wrath, he lingered, snooping around Chateau Leblanc for spheres.

He found himself in the doorway of Leblanc's bedroom, looking at a hunched woman who looked far more miserable than he.

"I said go away," said Leblanc. "I'm in no mood."

He hesitated. Some mischievous streak in him—unless it was profound aversion to another bitching out by Rikku—drove him to enter. She sighed. He sat down next to her on her bed. She didn't look at him. After a long, careful moment, he pinched her sharply on the rear.

She leaped up with a shriek. "How _dare_ you!" Her fan-blade snapped out of nowhere. He danced back, grinning, and drew his sword. She lunged at him. They entered battle, just the two of them, in her spacious bedroom. An overenthusiastic dodge on his part knocked over her dressing table, smashing jars of pastel powders and creams on the floor.

"Help us find Nooj," he said as he nearly parried an artful blow. Luck was on her side, and he was smarting in quite a few places. "Gippal thinks he's in Bevelle."

"Bevelle?" she hesitated, fan still brandished. "This isn't some trick, is it? I don't trust you."

"Nor should you," he said cheerfully. "Worth a shot, though, is it not?"

"_Boys_!" Leblanc shouted at the top of her lungs. "Get your gear! We're going back to Bevelle!"

* * *

"Why were fiends coming out of the temples?" said Rikku. The Gullwings, Leblanc Syndicate, and a bandaged black-eyed Gippal had assembled on the Celsius's bridge as they headed for Bevelle. She'd given Auron an incredulous glare when he brought Leblanc and company with, but so far had offered nothing but freezing silence to him on any subject.

"And more importantly," Rikku continued, "who's summoning those aeons, now that the fayth are gone from their chambers? There are no more fayth anywhere in Spira, so there should be no more aeons, period."

"The holes in the Chambers of the Fayth—were they there before?" said Paine.

"No," said Yuna.

"The holes are new," said Rikku. "Like, really new."

"There was one in Bevelle, too," said Paine. "A great hole…"

"But that one was made by Vegnagun, wasn't it?" said Rikku, glancing at Gippal.

"Don't look at me, I haven't even seen it!" said Gippal, his voice muffled but clearer.

"They're… connected, somehow," said Yuna.

"If they are connected, deep underground, then Vegnagun can go anywhere in Spira," said Auron. "It seems that the aeons and fiends are pouring up out of those holes, from wherever Vegnagun has gone. That it is choosing to invade the Chambers of the Fayth seems to point to a disturbing interest in the fayth. Perhaps it has found a way to recreate the aeons."

Rikku shuddered hard. "I don't like it. I have a majorly bad feeling about this."

"So do I," said Gippal. "Baralai seems to think that hostility activates it, in even the smallest traces, and it becomes an uncontrollable destructive force. If it's down in some fiend-infested pit creating aeons, then this is only the beginning of our troubles. We've got to get to Nooj, and stop him."

"Nooj?" said Leblanc. "What's my Noojie-Woojie got to do with this?"

Gippal seemed oblivious to Ormi and Logos furiously signaling behind her back to shut up. "Lady, your boyfriend is after Vegnagun, and not to bring sunshine and flowers to you or any part of Spira. Hate to burst your bubble, but 'Noojie-Woojie' is bad news."

"If he wants Vegnagun, I'm sure he has a plan," sniffed Leblanc. "It must be important to Spira's future. Noojie-Woojie wouldn't hurt a fly."

Gippal barked a laugh. "Yeah, right!"

Leblanc glared at him.

"Why did you bring her, anyway?" Rikku growled at Auron.

"Leverage," Auron murmured back to her.

She gave him an incredulous scowl and opened her mouth.

An alert whined into life, startling all of them. Rikku's jaw shut with a click, one more last-minute reprieve for Auron.

"Distress call from Djose temple!" said Buddy.

"What?" said Gippal, all seriousness. "What's going on?"

"Looks like they ran into trouble trying to clear out the fiends," said Buddy.

"Wanna go back?" said Yuna.

Gippal fretted. "I …can't. Vegnagun's a priority. There may be nothing left of Spira if Nooj gets hold of that thing. I have to hope my people can handle it or evacuate. _Tysh ed_!"

"Bevelle ahoy!" Brother announced. "All ashore that's going ashore!"

"Finally!" snapped Leblanc. "All right, people, let's move out! And _try_ to keep up, will you?"

Auron felt a tug on his sleeve and glanced down at Shinra.

"Before I forget," said Shinra, "your parts came in. I left them in your room."

"Thank you," said Auron distractedly, clasping the kid's shoulder. "I appreciate your assistance. And discretion."

"Sure, no problem," said Shinra.

_Not that I know when I'll have time to finish it_, he thought, as they made ready for landing.

* * *

"Wait here," Gippal said as they reached the entrance to the chamber where Vegnagun had once rested.

"Not a chance," said Auron.

"If Noojie-Woojie is in there, I'm going!" said Leblanc.

Gippal thrust out his arms. "We all agreed to meet down here. This little circus of yours could ruin it. We need to talk, and what we don't need are your interruptions and interferences. Give us a chance to talk him down. We were friends, once." His eyes lingered on Paine. "Well? You wanna give it a shot with me?"

"If anyone's going to talk to Noojie, it's me!" shrilled Leblanc.

Gippal grabbed her and thrust her at Auron. "Control this harpy! It was your idea to bring her, and she may yet be able to influence him, but not right this second! Come on, Paine, they're waiting. You clowns can watch if you shut the _ramm_ up, deal? And cover that _pedlr'c_ mouth."

Auron did so. Leblanc squirmed. Logos and Ormi exchanged glances, but wisely chose not to take him on.

Paine glanced from Gippal to her teammates. Gippal was already opening the door and striding out.

"Go," whispered Yuna.

Paine nodded, backed up a step and then turned to run after Gippal, down the long bridge to where Nooj and Baralai waited.

"Hey," said Gippal, reaching them.

"You're late," said Baralai.

"If you were on time, then I'd really start to worry," said Nooj. He jerked his head at Paine. "What's she doing here?"

"I have a stake in this," said Paine. "I was there."

"Anyway, I'm not even sure we should be here," said Gippal. "The Youth League and New Yevon are crumbling without you guys to hold 'em together, and Djose's been overrun with fiends out of a hole like that one." He gestured. "Vegnagun, I presume?"

Baralai sighed. "Vegnagun is… gone."

Nooj scoffed. "Listen to you: 'Vegnagun is gone.' Are you trying to tell us that since that thing left on its own, Yevon's not to blame?"

"It's the truth," said Baralai. "The thing's more sensitive than its size would lead one to believe. It detects hostility, and in an instant, springs to life! Should one even think of harming it, it awakens like a frightened child."

"Hah. You did your homework," said Nooj.

"I've had two years," said Baralai.

"You're saying that Vegnagun woke up because someone was trying to destroy it?" said Gippal. "Yuna's crew said it was already gone when they got here, and I believe them." He jerked his head at Paine. "So who could have gotten here first?"

"Who indeed. I'm a little confused," said Baralai, turning to Nooj. "You came to claim it for yourself, didn't you? But deep down you hated it, so it awoke. Did you come here to use it or destroy it? Well?"

"Both," said Nooj. "You probably think that's impossible. You've always been too naïve to see. I wouldn't expect you to understand."

"Then I hope you don't expect me to trust you, either," said Baralai. "I believed in you, once. When we were training for the Crimson Squad. I thought I'd never find a better friend. But you betrayed that… two years ago."

Baralai whipped out his gun and pointed it at Nooj.

"Baralai!" said Gippal.

"Whoa, whoa!" said Paine.

Leblanc struggled violently in Auron's grasp, kicking and biting. Auron tightened his grip, unwilling to risk setting off the clearly itchy trigger fingers before them. _I may have missed my chance to use Leblanc's influence over Nooj_, the thought. Rikku, noticing his struggle, hurriedly transformed and cast a sleep spell. Leblanc sagged in Auron's grasp.

"Why did you shoot?!" Baralai's anger echoed off the cavernous walls. "Why did you shoot Gippal and me? We were friends, and you shot us in the back! …_Answer me_!"

"Baralai!" said Paine, spreading placating hands. "Calm down!"

"Nooj!" said Gippal. "Apologize already! That's enough! Don't push me…" He whipped out his own gun and pointed it at Baralai.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" said Paine. "Slow your roll, here, gentlemen!" She reached for her garment grid.

"If this is what it takes," Gippal said through gritted teeth.

Nooj's body suffused with light. His cane clattered loudly on the metal floor.

"This has turned out perfectly, wouldn't you agree? Yes, I shot you." He drew his gun and aimed it at Gippal. His voice took on eerie tones as he continued, "You were easy targets. You… and Paine."

"You shot Paine, too?" said Gippal, glancing at her just as she transformed into Gunner and whipped out her pistols, pointing at Baralai and Nooj, her body alongside Gippal's.

"Why?" said Baralai. "I just want to know _why_, Nooj!"

Nooj's rough, grating laugh seemed to lower the temperature in the whole room. "I made him do it. He was too weak to resist me." The voice sounded even less like his now.

"Nooj…?" said Gippal.

"I don't expect you to present any more of a challenge. Not now." The glow emerged from Nooj's body, dropping him to his knees like a rag doll, and drifted into Baralai's body. Nooj's gun hit the floor; Gippal's and Paine's guns all trained on Baralai now, along with horrified stares.

"What _are_ you?" said Paine.

The eerie voice emanated from Baralai now. "I found that the mind that hates and despairs is the easiest to break. Two years ago, it was the same with you. Nooj. Seeking your own death. Now you can have it." He cocked his pistol, looking down at the kneeling man.

"No!" yelled Paine.

"Wait!" said Gippal.

Rikku took off running down the walkway.

"Rikku!" gasped Yuna, running after her.

"Paine, get out of here!" said Nooj with some effort.

A barrier activated near Nooj. Pyreflies swirled into the form of a writhing mass of tentacles and eyes spewing darkness. Auron shook Leblanc awake.

"Go help Nooj," he said, shoving her forward. Leblanc went from groggy to shrill shriek in moments and dashed to her lover's side. Auron dove in to join Yuna, Rikku, and Paine in fighting the Malboro. It wasn't a particularly vicious specimen, but none of them were wearing the right protective gear to guard against its toxic breath. Rikku took on White Mage healing duties. Yuna took on Gun Mage to cast Mighty Guard. Paine and Auron sliced and diced with their swords.

After the creature dissolved into pyreflies they found themselves alone.

"Where'd they go?" panted Rikku, whirling.

"I saw Baralai escape," said Paine. "Gippal and Nooj probably chased after him, and wherever Nooj went…"

"…Leblanc and company followed," finished Yuna.

"Nooj shot you too?" said Rikku.

"I don't want to talk about it," said Paine.

"Meanwhile, we're needed," said Auron, feeling it was time to refocus. "If Spira's leaders are off chasing each other with guns, there's a dearth of leadership against this plague of fiends pouring out of every temple."

Rikku sighed. "Yup, time to clear up everyone else's mess again." She gave Auron a tired look. "C'mon, Gullwings. Never a dull moment."


	21. Abyssal Plain

"Frana ec Gippal frah fa haat res?" yelled a frantic armed Al Bhed guarding Djose's temple doors.

"He says Gippal's not back yet," Rikku translated.

"Hmph," said Auron. "Fine time for the three of them to engage in a two-year-old personal feud."

"Fa dneat vekrdehk dra veahtc uh uin ufh, pid fa uhmo syta drehkc funca," said the Al Bhed guard. "Dra veahtc vuiht y fyo du sanka fedr uin machina."

"Not good!" said Rikku, her mind whirling with the implications. _Fiends merged with machines? Can Vegnagun do that? What if it merges with those aeons we've been finding in the temples?_

"Fru'c caluht-eh-lussyht?" she demanded of the guard.

The guards looked at each other in bewilderment.

Rikku sighed inwardly. "Ec Nhadala cdemm eh dra tacand?"

"Oac sy'ys!" said a young woman in goggles.

Rikku turned brusque, snapping out orders. "Nuiht ib ymm ouin baubma yht nadnayd du… du Mushroom Rock Road. Dra Youth League cdemm ufa oui vun ajanodrehk Gippal tet fedr draen machina, naseht dras uv dryd yht dyga navika fedr dras. Ed'c yh aycemo tavahcepma bucedeuh yht drana'c cyvado eh hispanc. Mayja pareht y cbrana eh lyca yhouha lusac pylg rana du zueh oui drana yd Mushroom Rock. … Yhouha ryja yho etay frana E lyh veht Cid?"

Many of the Al Bhed were already scrambling to comply, clearing out the former travel agency and finding a sphere to record a message.

One particularly young man, probably no more than fourteen, lingered, holding the leg of a machine for some reason. "Cid? Ech'd ra eh Zanarkand?"

"Hud yhosuna," said Rikku. "Yhouha raynt frana ra fahd?"

"E raynt cusauha cyf res eh dra Thunder Plains," said an older dark-skinned woman, out of breath.

"Knayd," said Rikku. She clapped her hands loudly, cupped her hands around her mouth, and shouted: "_Kad sujehk, oui kioc! Rub du ed! Huf!_"

She turned back to her teammates. "C'mon, let's go kick some _ycc_ while they evacuate."

Auron regarded her with some surprise. She'd just whipped the Al Bhed into shape, taking charge without even thinking.

"What?" she said. "We've got a job to do, come _on_!"

They nodded, and entered the temple. Rikku felt weary with weight.

* * *

"Ixion," breathed Rikku, staring at the dark-colored specter of an aeon she'd once had at her beck and call.

"Merged with an Al Bhed machina," said Paine. "Isn't that what they said?"

"So you _do_ understand Al Bhed," said Auron.

"How can this be…?" Yuna murmured in a sorrowful tone, looking at Ixion.

It reared. Rikku drew her vicious Dark Knight sword. In grim silence the four of them dispatched yet another aeon. No one appeared to enjoy these battles, strike victory poses, call encouragement. Even the normal groove Auron and Rikku enjoyed fighting side-by-side felt empty and missing.

Rikku crept to the edge of the pyrefly-filled hole in the middle of the chamber where once she'd prayed to the long-gone fayth. It was pitch black and seemed to go on forever, perhaps right through the middle of Spira.

"What's down there?" she murmured.

"Go find out," said Paine.

Rikku sat down on the edge and swung her legs over. In a flash Auron was behind her, firm gloved hand on her shoulder.

"No," he said. "Paine, do not encourage her."

"I didn't think she'd actually jump," said Paine.

"I wouldn't," said Rikku, with a hitch in her breath. Something inside her kept whispering to her to _jump, jump, do it_…

The eerie cries of the pyreflies whirled around Rikku's head, making her dizzy and giddy, even more hypnotized by the darkness. Auron's fingers dug into her arm.

Crackling behind them made her whirl around.

"Get back!" snapped Paine.

"What?" said Yuna.

Auron bodily lifted Rikku and dragged her to the side, wrapped in his arms, as Ixion's shadowy form lurched in through the door. Machine components exploded. Shrapnel flew. Auron ducked, twisting to shield Rikku's face as well as his own.

In horror, Rikku saw Yuna, blown back from the blast, spin and tumble down into the hole.

"_Yuuuunieeee_!" Rikku screamed. She coiled, kicked off from Auron with all her might, bounced off the rocks with another kick and dove headfirst into the hole after her cousin.

Wind whistled past. Total blackness. Rikku had trouble catching her breath in the fall. After a while, light burst in around her, still falling, plain featureless white light.

"Miss Al Bhed?"

Rikku gasped. "Yes?" Her fall slowed. Her body slowly righted itself. She felt she was standing-sitting on nothing, cradled.

"I hoped you would come," said the disembodied, familiar voice.

"Where… where am I?" Rikku blinked, disoriented. When she opened her eyes again she found herself lying facedown on crushed, sickly-sweet smelling flowers, peals of pyreflies filling the air around her, as well as a distant sound of rushing water.

She scrambled up. Misty fog permeated. Waterfalls thundered nearby, tiers of rocks completely deluged in an endless fall. Rather than the sunset hues of the Farplane seen from Guadosalam, everything seemed to be in dim purples, blues, greys. The sky overhead laced with blue and green tendrils, like gauze hanging from nowhere. Pyreflies swirled all over.

"Hello?" called Rikku.

"Hello again," said the voice.

She turned around. A lithe, dark-skinned, childlike form hung in the air behind her, nearly transparent.

She sank to her knees, breathless. "Fayth of Knowledge. I thought… I thought you were gone. I thought the dream had ended." She felt awed, humbled, bewildered to be again in the presence of the power that had changed her destiny.

"Yes," it said. "We went to our rest, here, in the abyss. Something has disturbed our peaceful existence. Has roused again the fayth that once dreamed the aeons, making them fight once more, dream of fighting, against their will."

"It's Vegnagun, isn't it?" she whispered.

The fayth nodded.

A hand on Rikku's shoulder startled her. She whirled, rising, and found Auron behind her, Paine standing nearby. Rikku gasped and hugged him. He looked startled.

"Auron. Auron, this is… this is the Fayth of Knowledge." She turned, awkwardly, back to the diminutive fayth. "This is the man you helped me save, Fayth of Knowledge. Thank you."

"We need your help, Rikku," said the fayth.

"Anything," she said earnestly. "Whatever I can do."

"While Vegnagun wakes, all Spira is in danger," it said. "None of the… residue of former life here can resist it, while it is under the influence of such a wrathful user."

"Nooj?" she said, confused.

"No," it said. "Shuyin."

"Who is Shuyin?" said Rikku.

The fayth regarded her. "So ignorant. You need to know… so much more."

Rikku flushed with heat. "So tell me, already!"

"Anger is the wrong answer. Anger will get you killed. Anger once saved you. Now you must learn to let it go." The fayth sighed. "And you cannot. You are much too young and impulsive."

"Yeah, well, if you're trying to get me to not be angry, you're going about it exactly the wrong way," she snapped. "Do you want me to help you or not?"

"Auron would be preferable, by far," it said. "Bushido has cultivated in him calm."

Auron stepped forward. "What can I do?"

"Shuyin cannot be defeated by strength alone, nor magic, nor any of your skills," said the fayth. "He is a spirit consumed by wrath, who can find his way in through the anger of a host. It is he who is after Vegnagun, to destroy Spira, and he will use anyone to get to that machine. You must stop him at all costs. Not with anger. Anger is his way in. Anger activates Vegnagun."

"So how do we beat him?" said Rikku.

"Cultivate hate's opposite," said the fayth. "Simply put, love."

Rikku barked a laugh. "Are you _kidding_ me? _Love_ him out of his rage? When has that _ever_ worked?"

"Auron!" Paine said urgently.

They swiveled and saw Paine pointing to a clump of figures off in the distance.

"_Yuna_!" yelled one of them. "Open your eyes!"

Rikku started running even before the end of the second sentence. _Yuna._ That name got her moving before even her brain turned on. She heard running footsteps behind her, struggling to keep up with her frantic pace.

Greenish pyreflies swarmed particularly thickly around the group huddled between two mountain-high dark waterfalls. Heads turned as Rikku, Auron, and Paine drew near. Yuna knelt in the flowers, Nooj and Gippal behind her, Baralai facing her a short distance away.

"Paine!" shouted Gippal. "Stay back!"

Rikku sped up at the sight of Yuna among those men she trusted not one whit. Baralai swiveled toward her. Some dark, long tunnel yawned open behind him.

Rikku drew her sword, aiming to get between them and Yuna. Baralai's expression chilled her to the bone. She tried to focus on her love for Yuna, but fear for her cousin kept overriding and sending her into a fighting rage.

"You leave Yunie alone!" Rikku yelled.

Baralai smiled. It was not a nice smile. "You," he breathed, in a creepy voice that should have been far too soft for Rikku to hear, but seemed to stretch out and touch her ear. Rikku lunged.

"Rikku, no!" Gippal grabbed her arm and ducked out of the way of her sword. His blackened eye, full of urgency, stared into hers.

"Don't let him get to you, whatever happens!" He kissed her roughly, startling her into letting her sword arm go limp, her thoughts whirling. He released her. She gasped for breath.

"I'm really sorry. For everything. We'll handle this one. You take care of things topside. You're in charge of the Machine Faction now." He let her go and ran after Nooj, who was already chasing Baralai down the tunnel seeming to stretch to infinity.

"Wait!" said Rikku, running after them. "Wait a minute, what do you mean, I'm in charge?! Hey, get back here, you _eteud_, I'm not done with you!"

Even as she ran the light over the landscape died, darkness swallowing them. She tripped and fell headlong, dropping her sword. She didn't hear it clatter, only her own groan as she lay on stiff, cold, invisible ground. She shut her eyes.

_I'll just lie here_, she thought. _Just for a minute, just until I get my breath back. So tired…_ The word '_just_' bounced around in her brain like a rubber ball.


	22. Interim

"She's not going to wake up any faster if you watch her," said Paine, nudging Auron. "It's like boiling water."

His black clothes drank up the light pouring in through the windows over Celsius's cabin. Rikku lay on a bunk in her Dark Knight armor like a statue on a tomb. He sat on the next bed over, leaning over his elbows balanced on his knees.

Auron sighed. "You may be right." He reached up to rub and roll his neck. _As much as I was not looking forward to the fight we're due regarding my actions toward Gippal_, he thought, _I'd much rather that than this._

"I'll stay with her," said Yuna, sitting on the bed opposite. She looked utterly disconsolate. "Why don't you two go blow off some steam?"

Paine nudged Auron again. He relented and allowed her to drag him up on deck. Both of them took the first bushido position, holding swords side by side. Neither spoke as they went through the moves. The calm he commonly felt in the familiarity of this routine did not seem to be forthcoming.

He did it anyway. It wasn't the first time he'd gone through the motions, waiting for peace to suffuse him. His mind strayed again and again to following Yuna as she whistled and chased after something he couldn't see, upwards out of the darkness, Rikku's limp weight in his arms. Instead of Djose, they'd found themselves in Vegnagun's empty chamber in Bevelle.

"Do you love her?" Paine's voice, though low, startled him. He lowered his sword, turning to her. Her gaze felt a little too keen.

"She is… my best friend," he said.

"That fayth that spoke to you about love—do you think it was telling the truth? About Shuyin and Vegnagun?" she said.

He considered the question.

"Only… if anger makes them stronger, Rikku's about the worst person to be trying to defend Spira against them," said Paine. "I care a lot about Rikku. She means a lot to me, and she's one of the strongest fighters I know. But if that fayth is right, this isn't about fighting."

"And what of you?" he countered. "Do you feel love? You keep your feelings hidden."

She sheathed her sword and stepped closer. "That doesn't mean I don't have them." She laid a hand on his arm. "You keep your feelings under wraps yourself. You should know… how deep they can run."

He felt frozen, uncomfortable, uncertain whether to move or what to say. He swallowed. "Paine…"

In an instant she'd released him, stepped back, and drew her sword again. Without a word she went back to the first bushido pose. He frowned at her, but since her back was turned, whatever expression might have cracked that cool exterior remained out of reach.

Lost in his own churning thoughts and the reverie of motion he only jolted out of himself when the deck doors roared open. He swiveled on his heel.

Rikku, back in her Thief's outfit and wearing a grim expression, bore down on him. He couldn't hide his delighted grin, and went into a defensive crouch in anticipation of a fight.

"Oh, save it," she said. "Spira's falling apart. Somebody needs to step in to lead or things are going to get worse. Go to Bevelle and talk to Cronos."

He straightened. "What?"

"He's the only one we know with any kind of clout in New Yevon. You two figure out who's going to take charge while Baralai's in a hole," said Rikku. "I've got my hands full with the Machine Faction, but I'll catch up with you there when I can. Got it?"

Yuna, behind Rikku, looked as blindsided as Auron felt.

"What are you planning?" said Auron. He'd never seen Rikku so take-charge and brusque, as if a different person had woken up in her skin.

_No_, he amended mentally. Hazy memories came back to him of her snapping out orders to Ronso three and four times her size when he was sick with Gagazet fever and she'd carried him down the mountain to get medical care. He had wondered at the time if he'd been hallucinating the bossy Al Bhed dynamo whipping everyone into a frenzy.

"Stop as much of the madness as we can," Rikku's answer cut through his thoughts. "Use our fame for something other than favors and rock concerts. Then figure out what to do about Shuyin and Vegnagun." She turned on her heel and left. Yuna, catching his startled expression, shrugged and followed her cousin.

* * *

The Star Dojo swarmed with people scurrying in and out, far more than had ever been in there even at the height of the monks' heyday. Auron awaited his turn to speak to Cronos.

The ex-monk, behind his desk, seemed implacably calm despite the frantic young messengers gabbling requests and reports to him. His words were few, and too low to be heard to the others in line.

"Ah, Auron," said Cronos. "Excellent. I hoped you would come. I have my hands full, and I need your help."

"I'm afraid I need yours," said Auron. "I was going to ask you to ensure New Yevon doesn't founder, but it seems you're doing that already. I wish I could assist, but I'm on a mission for a fayth."

Auron had only ever seen his old friend look shocked once before, long ago in the mists of adolescence.

"A fayth," said Cronos, in a low tone, eyes wide. "Tell me more."

"I was hoping you could tell me," said Auron. "It was down at the bottom of one of those holes that's been appearing in the temples, leaking fiends and violent aeons. It spoke to Rikku and I of someone named Shuyin, a hostile spirit intent on finding and using Vegnagun to destroy Spira. Shuyin inhabits those who are angry, and anger activates Vegnagun. Anything you can tell me will be beneficial. If you know where I can find Maechen, I believe he may know something of use. Yuna seems to think Shuyin is the man we've been seeing on spheres from Zanarkand, a thousand years past."

Cronos gaped at Auron. "Great aeons, Auron. What you say disturbs me. Nowhere in my not inconsiderable studies have I heard of Shuyin. I know of Vegnagun, of course. It responds to even unconscious hostility with greater aggression, which is why it cannot be destroyed. No one with even the least intentions against it can approach it or it will come to life. I suspect that someone did, and this is why it escaped. My theory is that its flight is stirring up fiends and aeons in some manner, to express the resultant aggression in response to whatever is threatening it. I know nothing of Shuyin. Maechen is in the judicial chambers, praying, for some unfathomable reason. I suggest we go see him together. I would very much like to hear what he has to say."

"What about all this?" said Auron, gesturing to the rows of anxious faces waiting.

Cronos stood up. "I suspect our errand much more important to the future of Spira. Come, my friend, and let us see what can be seen." After they left to chaos of the Star Dojo, Cronos pausing to issue a few last-minute instructions, they strolled up to the main basilica. Cronos murmured, "You know Maechen is unsent, yes?"

"I had my suspicions," said Auron.

"His knowledge is invaluable to us," said Cronos. "And unlike the unsent maesters of the past, Maechen has no ambition other than to share his knowledge with others. He has been a great teacher of mine. I have long known he has not taught me all he knows. He has a mischievous streak, like you and I. If he were ever to reveal everything, I think he would lose his last ties to the living, and be no more. The acolytes I set to recording interviews with him find his stories absolutely mind-numbing and tedious, and moan and bitch endlessly about their assignment. Yet one never knows when something seemingly innocuous he says may have profound relevance later."

They were stopped at the entrance to the basilica by armed guards.

"I'm sorry, sir," said one to Cronos, "we are under orders not to let Sir Auron pass."

"Don't be ridiculous, man! Baralai's orders? And where is Baralai?" said Cronos. He waved imperiously. "If you value your position, stand aside."

"The praetor's orders are incontrovertible, even in his absence," said the guard. "He was most adamant that neither Lady Yuna nor any of her companions be allowed access. They are traitors to New Yevon."

"I _am_ New Yevon, sonny," snapped Cronos. "I've been working here since you _and_ the praetor were in short pants. Yield access or yield your position, it's your choice."

"I can wait here," said Auron.

"We'll have to ask you for your sword, sir," said one of the other guards, holding out his hand to Auron.

"This is ridiculous," said Cronos. He stepped back, putting his hands in his sleeves, and bowed his head.

Auron, recognizing his friend's pose and what it meant, took several giant steps back. A very crowded but mostly soundless few moments followed.

"That was excessive," Auron chided, looking down at the pile of bodies as Cronos sheathed his stilettos in a businesslike way. Acolytes and priests nearby had stopped, jaws hanging, staring. Most people underestimated the profound speed and violence bookish, reclusive Cronos had at his disposal.

"They're not dead," said Cronos mildly. He activated the machine to open the main doors. "Well, not all of them. This will do as a warning to others. Just as well you're not staying on to help me with New Yevon, then, as this is not the last or even the worst infighting you'd have to witness."

Auron, bile in his throat, beckoned to a priest to come assist the stricken guards before hurrying after his old friend.

"If you're trying to keep New Yevon from turning into old Yevon," said Auron, "you are doing a _becc-buuh_ job."

"By which I assume you mean 'piss-poor," said Cronos. "Can you not even swear in English anymore? What _has_ she done to you? As to your complaint, when no other avenue presents itself and time is of the essence, I have the stomach to do what needs doing without agonizing over the morality. It's an unfortunate necessity of leadership. I take your point. And I stand by my choices."

"I don't envy you them," said Auron. "And I intend to continue to argue with them. In the absence of anyone willing to stand up to you, you would find it increasingly hard to avoid the path of corruption you claim to abhor."

Cronos laughed. "Point taken. I welcome future arguments."

"Good."


	23. What is Love, Anyway?

Rikku approached the hunched, bald man sitting against one of the lightning towers on the Thunder Plains. Some lingering unconscious response in her caused her to flinch sometimes when the lightning struck particularly close, even though increased towers erected by the Al Bhed had ensured no visitors would get struck anymore.

Cid glanced up at his daughter. His eyes dropped back to the dirt.

Heart heavy and stomach churning, she sat down next to him. She picked up a stick and started rubbing a groove in the dirt, to give her something to focus on other than whatever looks he might be giving her.

"Sorry I got so mad," she mumbled.

"I'm the one who's sorry," he said. "All those things you said—you were right."

She felt anger rising. She gave a loud sigh to try to dissipate it. "Well. I still didn't need to yell so much."

He said nothing.

"Anyway… I… I need your help, pops," she said. She risked a glance at his face and saw shock in his eyes. His brow furrowed.

"Gippal's… well… he's gone," she said. "I don't know if he's coming back. He's left me in charge of the Machine Faction, but there's something bigger I've gotta deal with. I can't take care of our people. _You_ can."

"Thought you didn't care for my kind of leadership," he said. "You've never made a secret of what you think about my decisions."

She flushed with heat and looked down. "I'm sorry about that. I guess I… I guess because I'm your kid I always… kinda needed to rebel against you. I haven't been fair to you."

He grabbed her roughly around the shoulders, startling her, and yanked her in for a stiff hug. "No," he said. "I wasn't there for you, after your mother died. You shouldn't've had to take care of me and your brother like that. I never knew what to do with you, girl. You needed a mother. Maybe you might've grown up a lady if I hadn't been so…" He trailed off, released her, and looked away, clearly uncomfortable with his uncharacteristic show of familiar affection. "Well. Water under the bridge, I guess."

She sniffed, surprised to find her eyes burning. "Yeah. We… we all did the best we could. Anyway, I could really use your help with the Machine Faction."

He barked a laugh. "You think those youngsters would listen to anything I have to say? Old man like me? Ha!"

"They need somebody, pop. They're desperate. If I can convince them to look to you, will you take over for me? Just 'till Gippal gets back, okay?"

He snorted, but it didn't sound too derisive. "You're all grown up, Rikku."

"Have been for years, pops. About time you noticed." She clapped him on the back. "Now quit sulking. You're too old for it."

He laughed, and allowed her to pull him up. "That's my girl!"

* * *

Rikku felt Yuna's solemn eyes on her as she spoke to Nhadala and Cid just outside Youth League Headquarters in Mushroom Rock Road. Once the rapid Al Bhed conversation seemed under its own power, Rikku approached her cousin.

"What's up, Yunie?" said Rikku.

Yuna shook her head. "I'm just… surprised. I've never seen you like this. I feel like I'm not doing enough. Auron's off in Bevelle, working things out with New Yevon, and you've got the Machine Faction under control."

"Well…" Rikku touched Yuna's shoulder and gestured to Lucil, who was speaking in low, frantic tones with Yaibal by the cliff's edge.

As she touched Yuna, all other things Rikku had intended to say flew out of her head. She felt dizzy again, her hand tingling, thoughts churning. She stared, blinking, at Yuna's face, feeling as if she'd never seen her cousin before and at the same time like no face was more familiar. Yuna nodded, eyes on Lucil, and walked away from Rikku.

Rikku stared at her hand, confused. She felt something tugging in her chest. She shook her head and buried her fingers in her braids. A few short, sharp breaths dispelled the weirdness. She glanced over at Cid and Nhadala, who were striding purposefully toward a group of Al Bhed, gesturing and talking rapidly.

A hollowness settled in her. She'd done what she came to do. She headed away from the headquarters and spotted flashing metal in the murky lower road. Paine appeared to be leveling up her Full Throttle dressphere.

Irritation surged in Rikku. _She hid things from us_, she thought. _All along, she knew something had happened down there, at the Den of Woe, with Nooj and Gippal and Baralai. Now they're off who knows where, all because of these secrets and lies. And she's right smack in the middle of them._

Anger rippled through her. She found herself stomping toward the elevator to take her down into a confrontation with Paine. Rikku grabbed hold of the rock face to stop and anchor herself physically.

_What are you doing?_ she demanded of herself. _Paine is your friend. She didn't know what was going on any more than you do now. The Fayth of Knowledge warned you about your anger, you know, _Rikki_._

She pursed her lips, shaking her head again. Anger retracted to a low simmer on her back burner, but she felt it there, waiting. She transformed into her Warrior dressphere.

_Bushido, the fayth said. Bushido calmed him down. Maybe if I move like Auron, I'll calm down too._ She tried to imagine Auron showing Paine bushido and her anger came roaring back.

_No_, she thought, steadying herself. _Bad idea. I've traveled with him for years, seen him fighting enough in all that time._

It felt easier, warmer, calmer, to call to mind those early days of traveling, fighting side by side with him, and sometimes with each other. His laughter when he tripped her up, and hers when she bested him.

Some sunny days it had seemed like all Spira was their oyster, not a care in the world. Just Auron and Rikku.

Wistfulness welled in her now—calmer than anger, but not more pleasant. Her moves grew heavy. So much had changed over the years. Nightmares had closed in, nearly killing her. Then a whole new adventure, and more friends, but more complications. Paine's face rose again in her mind, unbidden, and with it, rage.

_This isn't fair_, she thought. _Things used to be so simple. And it's not fair of me to blame her. I'm the one who said she could join. I knew she had her secrets, and whatever her deal was, I agreed to the consequences. Anyway there's Yunie, always Yunie, and I wouldn't give up traveling with her for the world._

_ All this would have happened anyway. Shuyin, Vegnagun—it's not Paine's fault, not Gippal's fault, maybe nobody's fault._

_ I just wish…_

She startled out of her reverie as she realized someone was watching her. Paine lounged against the rock face in her Warrior outfit. Rikku flushed and straightened.

"Nice moves," said Paine. "Did Auron teach you, too?"

"No," said Rikku stiffly.

"Wanna practice together?" said Paine.

_Yeah, totally_, Rikku thought with nasty glee. _I could take your head off._ Alarmed at her own thoughts, she shook her head. "I… I promised Auron I'd catch up with him in Bevelle." Rikku sheathed her sword with shaking hands.

"Hey, Rikku," said Paine.

Rikku glanced up apprehensively, afraid her hostility read like a flashing sign across her features.

Paine, to her surprise, smiled. "I'm glad you're okay. The Machine Faction's lucky to have somebody responsible injecting a little sanity into the situation."

Rikku gave a sharp laugh. "More than that _lnaab_ Gippal, that's for sure."

Paine shrugged.

"Look after Yunie, okay?" said Rikku. "I think… whatever happened to her down there… well, she seems really sad."

Paine nodded and headed up Mushroom Rock Road, while Rikku left to board the Celsius.

* * *

"Your security's a mess," Rikku announced loudly as she entered Bevelle's spacious darkened judicial chambers. Cronos, Maechen, and Auron glanced up at her as her bootfalls echoed loudly around the space. "Nobody stopped me getting in here."

Auron laughed.

"Machine Faction's been seen to, and Yuna's talking to Lucil back at Mushroom Rock," said Rikku. "How are things in the Lie Capital of Spira?"

"As well as can be expected," Cronos said mildly. "You're interrupting. Maechen was just getting to the good part."

"Stories can wait. I need to talk to you." Rikku beckoned Cronos with her finger, veering off to the side of the chamber where a small door led off the catwalk. She pushed through, crossed the cramped judge's chambers, and hopped up on a paper-strewn desk. Cronos closed the door behind him.

"I've got a problem," she said. "I'm angry."

He waited. "And your problem is…?"

"I just told you: I'm angry," she said. "I heard bushido helps Auron not be angry. I need a crash course. I haven't got a few years to spare. I need to know what I can do right now to deal, or Spira's in deep _cred_."

He laughed at her. She scowled.

"This is about Vegnagun, is it?" he said, shaking his head. "You're too much, Rikku. And I'm only half-joking. For you to chill out would take a lifetime. And you're better off asking Auron, not me. I don't know a damn thing about bushido."

She gaped at him. "But… but you're a monk!"

"My strengths lie elsewhere." He flicked his hand in the air, a fluid move, at the finish of which he held a stiletto dagger. He smiled slyly at her. "My anger is sharp, focused. I think that might be more your style. Have you ever used your anger to a purpose, saved it all up for when you really need it? Bringing it to a pinpoint?" He twirled the dagger so the dim tracklighting caught its razor edge.

"Er… sort of. But I tend to act first and think later," she said, squirming. "It gets me in a lot of trouble."

"Ah, me too, when I was your age." He waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively. She glared. "Well, Rikku…" His dagger vanished. "Save it up. Don't fight it, or it'll fight back, like Vegnagun. You've got plenty of reason to be angry. Just be sure to use it at the right moment. And if you find Vegnagun or Shuyin, get the hell out of there. Run, don't walk, if you value Spira's survival. If either of those things wound up in the same place as you, Sin would look like a cakewalk in comparison. You may not be a summoner anymore, may no longer be able to travel in time now that the fayth are mostly gone, but you are a formidable fighter, and too smart and angry for your own good."

She sighed. "I know. I _know_. I hate it. I can't ask my friends to go up against Shuyin and Vegnagun and stay away! How could I do that to them? I love them! If anything happened to them, I'd never forgive myself." Tears sprang to her eyes.

He raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, maybe there is hope for you, then. Love… that's not something I've had a lot of experience with. But if you can hold onto that love even in the face of your own anger, you might stand a chance."

She wiped her eyes with her wrist. "So how do I do that?"

"As I said, love's not my area. Why don't you ask Auron?"

"Auron? Huh?" She frowned. "That doesn't make any sense. He's not the lovey-dovey type. You should know, you've known him longer than me."

He grinned slyly. "I think you'll find love isn't always of the flowers-and-hearts variety. Or even usually. I may not ever have experienced it myself, but I've seen its impact. And it's often in the last places you expect, disguised as something else entirely."

"You really are crazy, you know that?"

"How kind of you to notice." He offered her his arm, opening the door. "Come, you might learn something."

"Me? Ha!" She leaped off the desk anyway, and took his arm. Maechen and Auron looked up from where they sat, still talking. As restless and impatient as she felt, she made herself sit and listen to the old man's ramblings about the Machina War and old Zanarkand. Auron nudged her once or twice for fidgeting. She stuck her tongue out at him, clamping down on her disproportionate irritation.

_I love you, I love you, you insufferable _pycdynt, she said to herself like a mantra through gritted teeth. _Gotta keep focusing on that. At least until it's time to bring out the stiletto anger and kick _ycc_, Rikku-style. Please, please let that be soon…_

* * *

"Good thinking," Auron murmured to Rikku as they headed along Bevelle's highbridge, having made their goodbyes to Cronos. The city seemed much less in an uproar than when Rikku had arrived.

"Hmm?" said Rikku.

"Stabilizing the factions, securing interim leadership," said Auron.

She snorted. "Those three guys may have been untrustworthy _pycdyntc_, but somehow they held people together."

"Things went well with the Machine Faction?" he said. "Did you find your father?"

She glanced at him, then off in the distance. She nodded.

"Glad to hear it."

They didn't say another word in their walk to the sphere. She felt a heavy emptiness inside her, holding her words at bay. This wasn't a comfortable silence, but she had too much else to worry about to dwell on whatever bizarre chasm had opened between her and her friend. He made no effort to bridge it either. Yet she felt certain he could sense it there as well.

The rest of the Gullwings waited on the Celsius's bridge.

"How'd it go?" Rikku asked Yuna.

Yuna sighed. "I did what I could. Yaibal wants to attack New Yevon while it's in disarray."

"That would be… unwise," said Auron. "New Yevon still has powerful forces at its command."

"I did what I could to persuade them to leave New Yevon in peace," said Yuna, "but it still seems like Spira is falling apart without its leaders. The ones who have stepped in don't seem to be able to sway everyone. I'm afraid there will be splits within the groups. I thought… I thought maybe there's something more that _we_ can do, to bring people back together. To remind us of our common ground, that we're all people of Spira, whatever other allegiances we have."

"Perhaps answer hatred with love?" said Auron.

"How are we going to do that? Sing campfire songs?" Paine said sarcastically.

"Ooooh!" crowed Brother. "That is it! All of Spira will be the captive of Yuna's singing and dancing!"

Rikku lit up. "Hey, for once, you've got something there!"

"I can handle the techie stuff," said Shinra.

"H-hang on!" said Yuna, holding up her hands.

"Couldn't that Tobli guy help out?" said Rikku.

"Where is he now?" said Buddy.

"The Moonflow," said Paine.

"Gullwings…" said Buddy.

Brother punched the air. "Move out!"

Yuna shook her head and shared a smile with Rikku. Rikku felt a tingle of warmth deep inside her.

_Love_, she thought. _Gotta hang onto this._


	24. All Together Now

A fist hammered on Auron's door. "Auron, c'mon! Rehearsal time!" shouted Rikku. "Yunie's waiting!"

Auron looked at his reflection in stomach-churning dismay. "I must have your word that you won't laugh."

"Oh, this sounds good. C'mon, Auron, just get it over with! It's like ripping off a bandage!" she called.

"Your word," he insisted, "or you can count me out."

"Hey! I only agreed to let them call the band 'YARP' because you promised! You're on all the posters! How would it look if this concert that's supposed to get Spira together is missing one of the key band members just 'cause you're having a diva moment? Come _on_, Auron!" She kicked the door.

"What's going on?" said Paine's voice.

"I'm gonna pick this _tyshat_ lock if he doesn't get out here pronto," said Rikku.

"Why waste time? Let's just break the door down," said Paine.

"Come _on_, Auron!" said Rikku. "Paine's already dressed, and whatever it looks like, it _can't_ be weirder than hers!"

"Thanks," Paine said dryly.

He sighed. "Why did I let you talk me into this?" He opened the door.

The two girls stared at him. He stared back, defiantly.

"What's the holdup?" said Yuna, entering the cabin at that moment. "We're supposed to be… oh!" Her hands flew to her mouth.

"Not… one… word," said Auron, brandishing his cherry-red electric guitar threateningly.

The girls followed him into the lift. None seemed to be able to shut their mouths. He refused to meet their eyes, scowling at the lift wall. He didn't want to see, reflected, his own image—the orange and blue lightning bolt painted across his powdered face, pink eyeshadow, the shock of orange dye in his spiky hair, and most of all his asphyxiatingly tight red leather pants and shaven, powdered-pale chest.

He'd had no idea a dressphere could be so ridiculously invasive in its alteration of his appearance. He'd put off trying out the Singer dressphere for as long as he could, dreading something like this, but even his wildest imaginings hadn't been this bad.

Paine cleared her throat. "Can I whistle, at least?" she said, her voice quavering.

That was all it took for the three others to dissolve into giggles, and then peals of laughter. Auron thunked his head against the wall with a heartfelt groan. When the lift arrived, Rikku hit him on the rear. He whirled on her, growling.

"Oh, you _cannot_ blame me for that!" she said. "I've never seen your butt looking so smackable!"

"Oh, can I, Rikku? Just this once?" said Paine, grinning like a maniac, hopping from foot to foot.

"That's _enough_!" said Auron. "Hands off, all of you, or I am abandoning this enterprise, promise or no!"

Yuna, giggling, ripped off a salute. "Yes, sir! Come on, Rikku, we've teased him enough. Let's get out there and rock Spira!"

"Oh, _ramm_, yes!" said Rikku, punching the air and shaking her hips. "They're not going to know what hit 'em! And we've got our secret weapon to steal the show!" She gestured to Auron. "I guarantee nobody's even gonna see High Summoner Yuna, next to this fine specimen!"

"Rikku, seriously! You're going to run him off!" Yuna smacked Rikku on the rear, shocking all of them, including Yuna.

Rikku burst out laughing, threw her arms around Yuna, and gave her cousin a kiss. "You're absolutely right!"

Auron felt a smile creep onto his lips, and allowed himself to take in, with enjoyment, the three foxy ladies that would be accompanying him on his extraordinarily public humiliation.

_No turning back now_, he thought. _Just don't think about it, or about all the jokes everyone who has ever met you will crack for the rest of your life, and you might live through this…_ He shuddered, shook his head, and clung to his guitar as the only barrier between him and all the exposure he was about to get.

* * *

"Did you write that?" Rikku asked after their first run-through of the song '1000 Words.' Auron turned down the volume and kept picking at his guitar, fascinated with the variety of sounds he seemed to be able to get from it. He listened with only half an ear to the conversation.

"It's more like I felt it," said Yuna. "I can hear it echoing inside me."

"Lenne?" said Rikku.

"I think so," said Yuna. "I don't know much about her, but I'm learning more and more. Bits and pieces of her memories keep pouring in. It's like… it's like I can feel what she was feeling!"

"Thus shall Lenne's scattered thoughts be woven into bittersweet song… something like that?" said Rikku.

"Hey, that was poetic," said Yuna.

"I'm really feeling poetic, looking at you. You really rock that outfit," said Rikku. "Every guy on Spira is gonna go ga-ga for you. Those that aren't already."

Yuna sighed.

Auron looked up, and saw Rikku looking uncomfortable at having reminded Yuna of the one man whose attention she clearly would have wanted.

"Oh, hey," said Rikku awkwardly, patting her cousin on the shoulder. "I mean… well, no harm in enjoying the attention, right? Uniting Spira in adoration of you is hardly a bad thing, is it?"

Yuna smiled faintly at Rikku, then at Auron. "Well, at least we've got our bases covered, with Auron here. There's not going to be a woman on Spira who doesn't wind up covered in her own drool at the end of this concert!"

"As much for his prowess with the guitar as with the pants," said Paine.

"Yeah, you really know how to wail on that thing!" said Rikku. "Way to go, Auron!"

He rolled his eyes. "Let's just get on with it, shall we?"

"Oh, come on." Rikku skipped across to him and gave his stiff form a hug. "You know you love the attention." She went up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek.

He stared at her, lips parting in shock.

Her brow furrowed. She let go hurriedly, dropped her eyes. "Uh, anyway… thanks for doing this." She cleared her throat and marched back to her mark, looking to Yuna. "One more time, from the top?"

Auron wondered if his makeup could hide the fiery flush he felt under his skin. He bent over his guitar, trying to urge his fingers to remember how to play while his brain spun. Fortunately the music itself was enough to sweep him up and carry him away. Only once did he falter, when he glanced over at Rikku and found her looking at him too, with intensity.

* * *

"Y!"

"A!"

"R!"

"P!"

The four Gullwings-cum-rock-stars slapped their hands down together in the center, eyes darting around to one another, smiles starting to appear. The energy and efforts of all their friends and allies had been building to this moment.

Despite the restlessness and aggression and infighting on the crowd, Auron felt it washing over him like a living energy, just beyond the doors and past the Celsius's deck where it rested on the Thunder Plains. The cheering, the voices, the anticipation. It felt far more intense than any blitzball game he'd ever been at, any Yevon pomp and circumstance. It even felt more intense than both showdowns with Sin, in its own way. He had never been the focus of so much ferocious attention all at once as he was about to be.

He felt Rikku give his hand an extra squeeze and met her eyes. He wondered if this felt even more monumental for her than traveling in time. She smiled.

"Ready?" said Yuna.

"Let's do it!" they said as one.

Yuna turned and led them out onto the deck.

The crowd _roared_. It felt like a tidal wave of sound, smashing into them from all directions, threatening to drown them. Auron felt disembodied as he took up his position on the deck.

It looked as if all the people on the plain had been stitched into a seamless quilt, billowing as people leaped up and down. So many faces turned toward them—human, Al Bhed, Ronso, Guado, Hypello, and closer at hand, Tobli and his diminutive people. Children riding on shoulders, old men and women in wheelchairs or on canes clustered on special ramp-girted platforms.

Auron felt almost totally naked. He was keenly aware of the tightness and redness of his pants, and adjusted his guitar strategically. At that moment Yuna reached the microphone at the front edge of the deck and began to speak. The crowd gradually quieted to hear her words, echoing out across the plain from dozens of speakers.

"One thousand years ago, before the time of Sin… Spira was torn in two, divided by a terrible war. This was Spira's great mistake. Out of the rift left by this terrible conflict, Sin was born.

"In only two short years, Spira has shaken off its unhappy past. We have moved on. Now, Spira grows brighter with each passing day. That light is our strength. I don't want to see it fade. Do you?

"There are so many of us, each with different ideas and different beliefs. Of course we sometimes disagree, and arguments will happen. But our hearts can and should always be one." Her voice took on an ethereal, haunting quality, as she continued. "Believe with me: Even if we're torn apart, our feelings will unite us. That's what this song is about."

Calmed, centered, Auron laid his hands on the strings. Everything flowed away except the music.


	25. Interference

Rikku sang mechanically, not really aware of her own body, enthralled by the scenes unfolding on Shinra's sphere screen. A long-haired woman in Yuna's dress, and an uncanny double for Tidus, fleeing Bevelle guards.

Nearing the end of the song, when guns fired onscreen, Rikku felt like she herself had been shot and pitched to her knees, clutching her microphone, struggling to keep singing. Tears sprang to her eyes. As the crowd cheered, she saw Yuna turn away, crying, and meet her eyes. Rikku dropped her microphone, heart aching unbearably, and ran to throw her arms around her cousin.

Rikku whispered soothing things as she, Paine, and Auron ushered Yuna back to the lift. Yuna trembled in her embrace. While Rikku and Auron helped Yuna to bed, Paine continued up to the bridge.

Sitting on a bunk with her, both crying, Rikku rocked Yuna in her arms. She stroked Yuna's face, kissed her cousin's sweaty brow. Her insides churned. She keenly, empathetically felt the aching pouring out of Yuna. Wordless. Overwhelming.

At last Yuna seemed to pull herself together. "I'm all right… I'm fine, really. It's passed now."

Paine topped the stairs and approached them. Auron stopped his pacing, still in the Singer dressphere, and came over.

"Shinra said her dressphere and the sphere screen reacted with each other, some kind of interference," said Paine. "The consciousness, or memories, burned into that dressphere were projected onto the screen. When I asked him why, all he said was, 'I'm only a kid.'"

"It's Lenne," said Yuna. "I was singing her feelings. During the song, I could feel them welling up inside until they just... burst."

"So the people we saw were Lenne… and Shuyin?" said Paine.

Rikku wiped her own sticky face and looked at Yuna, whose eyes were far away. "Yunie…"

Yuna glanced at her cousin.

"Come on," said Paine. "Everyone's waiting."

Rikku looked up. "Could you give us a minute?"

Paine exchanged a startled look with Auron. They left the cabin.

"Thank you, Rikku. I'm fine now, really." Yuna smiled, taking Rikku's hands. "I think I really needed that. I need to get out of these clothes though." She transformed back to Gunner, and Rikku took the time to swap out for Thief again.

"Hey, are you okay?" said Yuna. "You look like…"

"I felt it too," said Rikku. "It was really intense. When they got shot, it went right through me. I don't think Paine or Auron felt it, but I sure did."

Yuna nodded. "Why don't we go ask Shinra? Come on." She looped an arm around Rikku and they headed for the lift. Rikku sighed shakily, soothed by her touch.

The lift doors opened at the bridge level. Maechen waited for them.

"'Twas a magnificent melody, Lady Yuna," he said. "The onlookers were all quite enchanted."

"If it brings Spira together—even a little—then I'm glad," said Yuna.

"Indeed, I believe it shall," said Maechen. "As you sang, not a soul could help but realize the folly of their tiresome squabbling. Fist once raised in anger became welcoming hands offering solace to a tearful neighbor. I must admit that I, too, shed my share of tears the moment Lenne appeared."

Rikku jolted, her eyes narrowing at Maechen. "You knew Lenne?"

"Of course," said Maechen. "Would you like to hear…"

"Yes!" Yuna interrupted excitedly. "Tell us!"

"Where to begin?" Maechen mused, before settling into his singsong storytelling tones. "About a thousand years ago, Lenne was a popular songstress in Zanarkand. The talk of the town, you might say. In a more peaceful age, she might have lived out her years as a performer. But the times—and her talents—did not allow such a thing to be. You see, Lenne's gift for singing was matched by her genius in the summoner's arts. When then Machina War began, all summoners were sent to the front lines. Zanarkand was hopelessly outnumbered, and Lenne knew she would not return home alive. Nonetheless, she was prepared to lay down her life to protect her people. Yet there was one person who refused to let Lenne die. Yes, he would do anything to save her. He was… a young man, Lenne's lover."

"Shuyin," said Rikku. "The man we saw on the screen."

"I… don't know," said Maechen. "His name has been lost to history. Whatever his name, the youth endeavored to steal the enemy's machina weapon and save Lenne. However…"

"It didn't go well," said Yuna.

"They were both shot," said Rikku. "We saw them. And Shuyin's still after Vegnagun. I can kinda understand how he felt… trying so hard to save someone. Two years ago, I was the same." Her eyes shifted to Yuna. Maechen, seeming to sense his superfluity, departed.

Yuna hugged her cousin. "I know. I know how hard you and everyone worked to save me. Knowing that you were on my side… I'll always be grateful to you."

"I'd do it again. In a heartbeat. Oh, Yunie, Shuyin's still out there! I know it! He's not gonna stop until he gets Vegnagun. We've gotta go back down there and stop him. Those guys can't handle him, I just _know_ it."

"Maybe… maybe Lenne can help," said Yuna. "I'm sure she felt the same way about him trying to save her as I do about you, and my friends, and… and Tidus. But she never got to tell Shuyin. All he sees is hatred, and anger. He's the one person—spirit, I guess—who really needed to hear that song, and he's trapped down underground. You're right, Rikku. We've got to go back."

"Yes!" Rikku punched the air, flooded with relief. "I'll go get Auron and Paine, and we'll head for… well, one of those holes!"

It felt oddly wrenching to leave Yuna there, but the thought of going back down underground, where all the danger was, pulled Rikku so strongly.

_Until we stop that machine, I won't rest!_ she thought. Paine and Auron weren't in the cabin, so she rode back up to the deck. Celsius had taken off from the Thunder Plains after the concert, and the deck seemed a favorite spot for Paine and Auron to spar and train.

The doors opened, apparently unheard in the sheer winds. The sight that greeted her shocked through Rikku like a fresh round of gunfire. Her heart stuttered.

Paine, on tiptoes, arms around Auron's neck. Eyes closed. Head tilted. Auron's hands on Paine's hips. Their lips pressed together. Frozen in time as if under a petrification spell. No movement but the ruffling of buckles and hair and clothes in the wind.

Rikku found daggers in her hands, rage surging electrically through every inch of her. A yell crawled up from the depths of her belly and chest, swelling in her throat. Her body crouched, tensed, ready to spring. Her head filled with red. In another moment she'd fully unleash, pain and violence spiraling out of her, blood splashing the deck, unholy screams of pain.

She staggered backward, kicking out at the lift controls with her foot. Her body shook violently. She braced hard against the wall, feeling as if she was having to physically restrain herself from going back up on deck and murdering both Paine and Auron. Even the thought of either of them made her feel like a raging volcano on the brink of exploding.

Any tiny hint of calm or love she might have once felt had blown completely away. All she could think of was finding some fiends, pronto, and venting all this rage until it was gone. It felt bottomless, even more than the hole in Djose.

She staggered onto the bridge, shaking violently.

Yuna gasped and rushed to her side. "Rikku, what…?"

"I have to go!" said Rikku. "Please, I've got to get out of here! Don't come after me! I need to be alone!" She rushed to Buddy, and whispered, "Don't tell _anyone_ where I've gone! Especially… anyone!"

"Rikku!" Yuna's voice rang in her ears.

Rikku squeezed her eyes shut.


	26. Vekhan-Bnuesca

"Ow!"

Auron sucked his thumb, glaring at the soldering gun. He bent over his work in his cramped windowless room, eyeing half-finished circuits and pieces of intricately wrought gold alloy.

_I leave things until much too late_, he thought angrily. _My fatal flaw, whose price is too often paid by others._

He worked until his eyes ached and his back cramped, took a couple of hours' sack time, and started again as soon as he roused groggily. At last it was finished. Not pretty, but finished. He shoved it in his pocket and left his room with a delicious lungful of fresh air and glorious stretch.

Yuna sat at the bar, alone. He smiled and approached.

"Feeling any better?" he said. He saw to his surprise she was drinking hot sake. He'd only ever seen her drink once before, at Lulu and Wakka's wedding reception. She'd been much more giggly then than she appeared now.

"Mind if I join you?" he said, sliding in beside her. "Barkeep, same for me."

The Hypello went to warm another bottle. Yuna sipped from her sake cup, silent eyes still on Auron.

"I didn't miss anything, did I?" he said.

She poured herself another cupful, drained it, and set it down. She watched Barkeep serve Auron and then tactfully move away.

"Look, Auron, I don't pretend to understand your friendship with Rikku," said Yuna. "You two are always fighting, and I never know when you're playing, but you seem to make it work, so I stay out of it. I know it's none of my business. But I love my cousin more than anyone in Spira. She's my family, not just like Lulu and Wakka, but like a sister to me. And I hate seeing her hurt. Like I said, it's none of my business what you're fighting about, but I have never seen her like this, not even after she performed the sending for Jecht. Then you holed up in your room for over a day. _Don't interrupt me_! I haven't finished yet."

He shut his mouth, bewildered, cradling his warm cup in his hands.

"We just planned out and executed a _really_ intense concert to try to bring Spira together," said Yuna. "And now I think I have an idea of how we can stop Shuyin and Vegnagun—but I can't do this on my own, not with my friends falling apart and fighting around me! What was the point of everything we just did if even the two best friends Spira has ever seen can't stand to be on the same ship together? Whatever your fight was about, whatever's going on, even if it's not your fault, I suggest you apologize for whatever it is you did to hurt her so much. Sometimes you need to apologize even when you did nothing wrong, because you love someone and care about their feelings. And fix it as quickly as possible, because this kind of thing only gets worse the longer you leave it."

He lifted a hand. "May I speak now?"

She shrugged. "Yes. I've said what I had to say."

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," he said. "After the concert she wanted time alone with you, and I haven't seen her since. Did she say anything to you about why she's upset with me?"

She shook her head. "I wondered if maybe it might be a fight with Paine, since she's off sulking too, but Paine can't get under Rikku's skin like you can."

"I'll talk to her. Where is she?"

"I don't know. Buddy won't tell me. He says she made him promise not to tell anyone."

He sighed gustily and tweezed the bridge of his nose between his fingers. "I'll find her."

"Hurry it up." She poured herself sake out of his bottle and knocked it back in one sip. "We've got bigger problems than this."

He nodded, picked up the sake bottle and drank the rest of it in one go. Liquid fire filled his throat. He hoped it would soothe his irritation.

* * *

Auron found Rikku the very first place he went. She huddled in a ball, boots dug into the dirt of the south Moonflow bank, fingertips pressing hard into her own arms. Her head snapped up as he approached.

"Go _away_!" she snarled, turning her head from him.

He plopped down next to her. She growled.

"You _deaf_, old man? _Becc _off!" she said, twisting her head further.

"Whatever it is, I'm sorry," he said. "Now, will you tell me what it is, or do I have to tickle it out of you?"

She recoiled. "Don't _touch_ me. For _vilg'c_ sake, Auron! Just go off and… be with Paine, okay? I don't care, do whatever you want, but I don't want to see it, and I don't want to be around it! And most of all, I do _not_ want to talk about it, so _get lost_!"

"Paine?" he said, and started to feel a creeping, hideous suspicion.

She turned murderous eyes on him. "Don't play stupid with me, _yccmura_. I saw you two kissing up on deck."

He put his face in his palm. "_Vilg_."

"Now, for the last time: get out of here, get out of my life, stay the _ramm_ away from me!"

He dropped his hand and looked out across the water at the swirling, looping pyreflies. "I _vilgat_ up, Rikku."

She stood up abruptly and stalked off. He leaped up and dove to grab her arm. She spun around and he ducked instinctively, reaching up to catch her other hand. She kneed him in the groin.

He hissed, dropping to his knees. Pain radiated out from between his legs like fiery lightning. She looked down at him with utter contempt.

"Please, hear me out," he gasped. "I should have stopped her. I know that now. I knew she had… feelings for me, feelings I didn't reciprocate—which I told her, after she kissed me up on deck, a mistake which unfortunately you saw. I was an _eteud_. I _am_ an _eteud_. I should have discouraged her from day one. There is nothing between us, Rikku. And I hurt both of you, and I'm sorry." He looked up and saw tears running down her face, her hands bunched into fists. "I cannot apologize enough for what I did. It was unforgivable. I jeopardized the greatest friendship I have ever known because my stupid male ego liked the attention."

She sighed and sank down next to him on the ground. "You're right. You're unforgivably stupid." She hugged her knees and set her chin on them, looking out at the water. He tried to ease into a less-excruciating sitting position and felt a lump in his pocket.

"Do you know what today is?" he said.

"I don't know," she said. "What does it matter? Yunasday, Zanarday… probably Zaonsday, all the worst days of my life happen on Zaonsday."

"It's your birthday," he said.

She laughed mirthlessly, buried her head in her knees and groaned. "Oh, _perfect_."

He dug the gold box out of his pocket and held it out. "Happy birthday, my friend."

She lifted her head and reared back as if he was handing her a snarling handful of mini-malboros. She shot him a wide-eyed frown. "What the _ramm_ is this?!"

"A _vehkan-bnuseca_," he said.

"Yes, I know what it is!" she said. "Do you? Do you know what it's _for_?"

"Yes."

"Is this some kind of sick joke, Auron?! I swear, I am _this_ close to murdering you right now!"

"It's no joke. Try it."

Scowling at him, she snatched it out of his hand. He held his breath, mentally crossing his fingers: _Please, please work…_

She pressed her right thumb in the finger-shaped groove on the lid of the box. The center compartment popped out, and so did his breath. Small red, green, and blue jewels sparkled in the sunlight. The elaborate technical Al Bhed engagement gift meant to convey seriousness of intention.

She stared at the box that had opened for her touch alone, transfixed. At last she said, in a detached voice, "Where'd you lift my thumbprint?"

He shrugged. "Inside of the Godhand."

Her head snapped up. "I haven't used that in six months! How long have you been _planning_ this?"

He held her gaze. "I've been thinking about it for a long time. But I wasn't sure, particularly after we… re-met three years ago. It didn't seem right, given the age difference. I tried very hard to convince everyone that I didn't have those kinds of feelings for you. Turns out I was only trying to convince myself. Unsuccessfully."

"You've never even shown the _slightest_ sign that you were interested in me in that way!"

"I was afraid."

"_Afraid_? You? Ha!"

"Yes. First of myself, for these feelings, and then afraid that revealing them would end our friendship. Paine was an unfortunate catalyst. The more she flirted with me, the more I realized there was only one woman I wanted to see every day of my life, only one I wanted to fight with, and journey alongside, for the rest of my days. In whatever way you might have me." He sucked in a breath, bracing himself for the worst part. "And… though not consciously… I think… that… the way you reacted to her flirtation… inspired in me hope that you might…"

He had to break off here, because she started hitting him, quite hard, with wordless yells. He recoiled from the blows but made no move to defend himself, fight back, or stop her. _I earned this_, he thought.

"Miss? Are you all right? Is this guy bothering you?"

They looked up at a short but well-built dark-haired woman, concern on her face. Others visiting the Moonflow had turned to stare.

"Yes," said Rikku, "and I'm taking care of it, thank you for asking!" She continued hitting Auron. The woman lingered with a suspicious look at Auron before moving off. The other visitors dissipated as well.

Rikku stopped, perhaps not because she ran out of anger, but because she was sobbing too hard to continue. He reached for her. She slapped his hands away. He waited.

Hiccupping, wiping her face with her scarf, at last she said, "Remember when… when you beat up Gippal, for what he did to me? What you did was about a _million_ times worse, Auron!"

"I know," he said. "And I don't expect you to forgive me. But if you're going to end our friendship, I want it to be for the right reasons, and not because you think I have any interest whatsoever in Paine. I want to tell you the truth."

"How could you _do_ this to me? How could you put me through this?!"

"There is no justification for my actions. I wasn't aware of what I was doing. That doesn't make it all right, but I want you to know, anyway—I'm a big dumb male, and I do not know how to handle rejection adequately to just ask for what I want. This has been the defining relationship of my life in many ways and I greatly feared losing it. I know I don't deserve it, but I will ask for it anyway: would you consent to marry me?"

She made an irritated noise. "Auron, you've never even tried to _kiss_ me! You expect me to believe you really want to get hitched? You're all talk! _Show_ me!"

After holding back for so long he'd feared he would be unable to let go, but it turned out to be surprisingly easy once he made the choice. Even the pain in his groin took a backseat to the emotions surging through him as he surged his lips onto hers, grabbing her, dropping to the ground and pulling her weight on top of him.

It felt heavenly to touch her face, cup it to his, slide his lips across hers, feeling every nerve ending alive where they touched. As often as he'd envisioned what it might be like, all expectation blew away in a sheer explosion of bliss. She fitted so neatly against him. Her every move sparked shivers down his spine.

When she unfroze and her hands slid up his chest to his shoulders, his neck, not pushing but pulling, all possibility of cognition evaporated and he turned into a sea of pure sensation. Even the pain he still felt seemed beautiful because it was all part of this moment, in his body, connected to hers in an utterly satisfying way. No part of him wasn't participating. A bushido sort of kiss.

She broke the kiss. His eyes were in the act of opening when she initiated a fresh one all her own, much more urgent and searching than his had been. He felt her body surge with a deep inhale, pushing ever so slightly more into his. She contracted and sank into him as her exhalation through her nose feathered his face. He slid his hands over her nearly-bare back. His fingertips explored every pore.

After a few metaphorical eternities were born and collapsed with poofs, sighs, and bangs, she pushed off, propped on her hands, hanging over him. He gazed up at her. He had looked on that face thousands of times, knew every detail of it, but had never beheld it in this way before, through the eyes of a man who had kissed her, declared love for her, had no more secrets from her. The change in him gave her a sort of glow, to his imagination. He traced the inside of her arms with his fingertips.

Her green eyes had a fierce set to them. A smile played on her lips. "If you're sorry, and I mean _really_ sorry, about what you put me through, you're gonna have to make it up to me," she said.

"Of course," he murmured. "Anything you want."

"Anything?" Her eyes glittered.

"_Anything_."

She gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Good. Then take me to the travel agency up the road, get us the most lavish room, and apologize to me until I'm satisfied. And you're _not_ allowed to speak one _tysh_ word, though you are certainly welcome to use your mouth for other things. And yes, I'm fully aware you're still hurting where I kneed you in the balls. Love hurts, suck it up."

He was grinning like a maniac before she'd even finished. He swept her up in his arms and carried her away from the shore of the Moonflow at a rapid stride.

* * *

Auron woke groggily. Rikku was shaking him, hard.

"Wstfgl?" he groaned into the pillow. He swallowed and lifted his head from the travel agency pillow, blind in the depths of night. Every part of him felt sore—some bits more than others.

"Yes," said Rikku.

"Mm?" he said.

"I said _yes_, _sunuh_. As in 'yes, I will marry you.' I thought you'd want to know as soon as I decided. But this doesn't mean you're done apologizing yet," she said.

He flopped onto his back, now fully awake. Just in time he remembered her ban on speaking, and instead buried his face in her bare skin and kissed and kissed his way all around her torso. In this manner he expressed tired but ecstatic joy at her answer. She giggled, running her longed-for fingers through his hair.

For one more night, nothing else mattered outside that room. Spira could have ended and he wouldn't have cared. Nothing, no concern, no external influence penetrated their haze of love and lust long unrequited and unspoken.

* * *

The second time Auron woke to the rarely-heard sound of a mortal scream from Rikku.

So awful and jolting was that sound to him that he began moving even before coming fully awake, scrambling to get out of his bed and to her side. He was not yet awake enough to remember they were in the same bed until he rolled over on her small body.

He thrashed, getting tangled in the covers in his haste to get off her. Meanwhile her scream dissolved into shrill, stuttering whimpers. He flailed one arm out and managed to turn on the lamp at the same time as knock it over. Momentary light flashed out with a smash on the floor.

He found her violently shaking body by feel. "Rikku!" he said. "Rikku, it's Auron!"

She dissolved into sobs and clutched him hard, burrowing against his bare skin. Her fingers dug in with painful intensity.

"Are you hurt?" he said, heart and head still spinning with panic. His whole body thrummed with adrenaline. "Did you have a nightmare?"

She nodded hard against his shoulder. He guessed 'nightmare' and attempted to soothe her even as he took stock of the situation and re-remembered the events of the day and night before. He shivered involuntarily. He allowed his arms to cuddle her closer, as befitted their new roles to each other.

"Shh." He kissed her brow. "It's all right. I'm here. I'm alive."

She sucked in a deep breath and blew it out, spraying him with a little snot or tears or drool. Considering the puddles of each other's sweat and other fluids they'd been sleeping in, he cared not one whit.

"Not that," she said. "Vegnagun. Since… since Djose, I've been dreaming of Vegnagun. Auron, we have to go back! Whatever it takes, we've gotta get back there!"

"We will," he kissed her salty face. "Together."

"Now!" she said.

"No," he said, and kissed her mouth. She writhed, trying to shove him off, but not wholeheartedly enough for him to desist. He kept kissing her until her muscles eased and her arms slid around him. When he let her go she made a soft noise of protest.

"In the morning," he said. "We'll return to the Celsius and regroup. We need a _plan_, Rikku, much as you and I hate making them." He stroked her wild braids as she snuggled into him, kissing his cooling chest.

She lifted her head. "Hey, you _did_ plan something. The finger-promise box. Where'd you get it, anyway? I think I personally know everyone left alive who knows how to make 'em. Most Al Bhed don't even use 'em anymore."

"I learned how to make one years ago, from Shisen, before she died. I learned a lot of Al Bhed skills and culture in the years I was searching for you. Shinra ordered the machine parts I was lacking—not that he knew what I was doing with them. I got the gold and gems from Luca."

"You _made_ it? You really have been planning this a long time, haven't you? All while Paine was flirting with you?" Her voice grew acerbic. Clearly in spite of all his 'apologizing' it would be a long time before that topic cooled for her.

"When I learned to make one, years ago, I wasn't thinking of this moment, of asking you. Yet I think this has been a long time coming. Courage to ask took the longest. That was far harder than anything I've ever done—learn Al Bhed, learn how to make the box, search for you, understand my feelings, even fight Sin. I trained for years as a monk to learn how to fight, and had plenty of years to learn the arts of traveling and asking questions. But asking for your hand in marriage—I had so much to lose."

She scoffed.

"Rikku, you never saw me in the ten years between when I lost you and when we were reunited. I was an unholy, drunk, bitter, cynical terror. I am a mess without you. Ask my friend Tem sometime."

"Mm. Sounds like a story for the reception."

"Hmm?"

"Wedding reception."

He laughed. "Oh, yes."

"You _forgot_?"

"Not exactly. It doesn't seem real to me yet. I vividly imagined you saying no to me about a million times, in a million different ways, with different amounts of mocking laughter, over the years. Kept me from asking."

She fell silent, and he thought she'd slipped back into sleep when she startled him out of a dreamy haze by speaking again.

"If you'd asked, I would have been so surprised I wouldn't have known what to say," she said. "It would have been… weird. It _was_ weird. But… good weird." Her hands slid over him, as if inventorying all his parts. "When _did_ you decide to ask me, anyway?"

"After we came back from the Scar of the Fayth on Gagazet."

"You mean when I…"

"Yes."

She sighed. "You sure took your time telling me."

"I had very narrowly missed losing you for good. It was difficult to think of losing you as a friend if my proposal did not go over well. To say the least." He found his hand stuck in a tangle and busied himself extracting it. "How long are you going to have these confounded braids?"

"Long as I want," she snapped. Her hands zeroed in between his legs. He groaned and rolled onto his back.

"…Ow! Careful, that still hurts."

"Aww, poor Auron. Want me to kiss it and make it better?"

"Uh…"

"Yeah, I think I'll do that… mm…"

"Oh, _vilgehk RAMM_! Rikku…"

"…Heh heh heh heh heh!"


	27. Not Starting Over, Just Going On

Auron went heavy and ornery at Rikku in the morning. His hands snaked out and pulled her back in every time she tried to leave the bed, like quicksand.

She slapped at his hands. "Come _on_, lazy _ycc_! The morning's half gone! Vegnagun's waiting, and Yuna's probably wondering where the _ramm_ we are!"

He snorted and growled, apparently reduced to animal noises this morning. His fingers and lips trailed over the curve of her hip.

"We _cannot_ spend all day in bed, Auron. …Much as… oh… I might want to…" She sighed. "Oh, _vilg_ it." She twisted around and grabbed him. She glared at his triumphant, beaming smile.

"After this we _really_ gotta go," she said.

* * *

Rikku stretched, aching to the roots of her hair. She heard a petulant sigh behind her as she donned her dressphere. She marched out the door without a backward glance at the gloriously naked pepper-haired ex-monk that might dissolve her resolve.

As soon as she got outside the musky-smelling room, her skin chilled and raised in goosebumps. Some dread she hadn't even noticed before had been absent all evening and now returned outside of Auron's presence.

_Vegnagun_, she thought as her feelings sunk. _While we've been wasting time, Shuyin and Vegnagun have been on the loose under Spira, driving out fiends and dark aeons. And me? I've been off sulking and mooning over Auron, instead of doing something about it. How selfish is that?_

She went to settle their account with a mumbled apology and extra gil for breaking the lamp, not really paying attention to the expression on the innkeeper's face.

Rikku squinted at the sunlight she emerged into. A few people walked along the road to the Moonflow, apparently unhurried. In spite of the apparent calm Rikku felt nothing but deepening fear.

_I've got to get to Vegnagun. Whatever it takes_, she thought.

She turned at the sound of the door clicking open behind her. Auron's face crinkled as he squinted, laugh lines more pronounced. A wash of tenderness poured through her at his familiar face, a face she had now kissed over and over. He'd taken the time to shave it smooth.

Her fingers itched to reach for him. Before she quite knew what was happening she'd shimmied up to him and gone up on tiptoe. His lips met hers. His fingers laced together at the small of her bare back.

She peeled off him with great effort. "You're too sexy," she complained.

"_Me_?!" He raked his incredulous eyes up and down her scantily clad form.

"Oh, shut up," she said. "You know you are."

"I'm old," he said.

She shrieked. "You! Are not! Old!"

"Nearly twice your age," he said.

"Time'll take care of that. Now stop distracting me, we've _really_ gotta go."

He growled.

"And stop sulking."

"Make me."

She lifted her eyebrows at him and he stuck out his tongue at her. She shook her head in disbelief.

"You are _so_ not the dead man I went back in time to save," she marveled to herself, "and I love every inch of you." She hadn't realized she'd spoken aloud until he swept her up in his arms and spun her around, kissing her.

* * *

Yuna, Paine, Buddy, Brother, and Shinra turned to look at Auron and Rikku as they entered Celsius's bridge. Conversations died abruptly.

Rikku flushed, feeling as if every one of them could plainly see what had happened. "Um," she said. "Uh… Vegnagun."

Yuna moved first, sweeping in to hug her cousin. Rikku's stomach lurched. She leaned into her cousin's embrace, feeling conflicted and out of sorts. Some part of her just wanted to sigh into the safety of Yuna's arms and stay there, eyes shut tight, willing the rest of Spira and its woes to go away.

"I'm glad you're okay," said Yuna. "Leblanc called while you two were… away. She's with Nooj and Gippal in the Farplane Abyss, and they've got a Commsphere. Nooj had some sort of plan for Vegnagun, but the Commsphere shorted out before he could say what it was. I want to reach Shuyin, to tell him how Lenne felt. We'll have to go back."

"Exactly!" said Rikku. "And there's holes all over the place we could jump into. Everywhere there was a Chamber of the Fayth. Which one, Yunie?"

Buddy cleared his throat. "We also got a message from Besaid. Looks like Lulu finally had her baby."

"Oh, no way!" said Rikku.

Yuna turned to Brother. "Please, let's go to Besaid."

"Is this really the time?" said Auron. "Not that I'm not pleased as well, but…" He shared a look with Rikku.

"It's the only time," said Yuna decisively.

"Well, you're the boss," said Rikku.

"Hey!" said Brother.

Rikku stuck her tongue out at him. Mostly to cover the intense feelings of urgent dread signaling from her churning stomach and buzzing head.

* * *

A beaming Wakka greeted the Gullwings at the edge of the village on Besaid Island. "Hey! It's a boy! You wanna meet him?"

"Yeah!" said Yuna.

In spite of her unease, Rikku began to feel excitement as they trotted down to the square. She felt Auron's eyes on her and smiled at him.

It looked like most of the village had gathered around the circle in the center, where Lulu's grey-and-black-clad form sat as keeper of the pudgy, tiny commander of attention.

"Ur, ra ec cu lida!" Rikku cooed, kneeling in the space made for the Gullwings at Lulu's side. She reached out and caressed the baby's teeny fingers, with even tinier nails.

"Look at his hands!" said Yuna, beside her. "They're so tiny!"

"What do you think?" said Wakka. "He's cute, ya? Good thing he don't look like me."

"Don't be silly. Look, he's got your mouth," said Yuna.

"You think so?" said Wakka.

The infant shrieked loudly.

"Sounds like it," said Auron. "What's his name?"

"I think the Calm will end before Wakka makes up his mind," said Lulu.

"Well, you better decide soon," said Yuna.

"No rushing, ya?" Wakka scratched the back of his neck. "Naming my son is my first important decision as a parent. Becoming a good father requires intense emotional preparation, ya?"

"I'd hope your first important decision would be baby-proofing the house," said Rikku. She looked up and saw Wakka's eyes widen in terror. "Oh, relax, I bet Lulu has it under control."

"I do," said Lulu.

Auron knelt down next to Rikku, his proximity electrifying her. He reached out cradle the little boy's foot. It made his hand look enormous by comparison. She watched his eyes crinkling and shining at the baby. He looked utterly entranced. After a moment, sensing her attention, he looked at her. She grinned at him. His hand slipped into hers and squeezed.

She lit up inside, warmth spreading to her core. They shuffled off to the side after a few moments to allow more people a chance to pay their respects to the baby and his parents.

"Perhaps now would be a good time for an announcement, with many of our friends already here," said Auron. "We can count on gossip to do the rest, if I am any judge."

She blushed as she looked up at him. "You think so? It won't be—I don't know—unfair to Wakka and Lulu? Like, stealing their thunder?"

"You would rather they find out secondhand?" he said. "I don't know about you but I am having trouble restraining myself from holding you…" He reached for her, then curled his fingers shut and pulled his hand away. She swayed toward his aborted touch.

"You're right," she breathed, leaning in close. "So… you wanna tell them? It was your idea, after all."

"You are sure?" he said.

She nodded. She felt suddenly shy, unsure what to say. She put her hand in his and they walked back to the clump of people. People laughed, talked, joked, toasted, and some of the blitzballers were even singing a victory chant, off-key. They seemed to have heartily availed themselves of the rare opportunity of daytime drinking.

Auron cleared his throat. "We have an announcement."

Perhaps one or two people looked at him briefly before returning to their conversations. Yuna had the baby on her lap, making faces at it while Lulu looked on, Wakka laughing and talking with Datto.

Rikku shook her head, stuck her fingers in her mouth, and whistled shrilly.

Silence came like a reverse thunderclap. Everyone stared at her.

"Auron and I are engaged," she said impulsively.

After half a second of silence broken only by baby noises, Yuna blurted out, "Finally!"

Everyone turned to look at her.

"Um… I mean… congratulations?" said Yuna.

The next moment, everyone was cheering, the Aurochs were surrounding Auron and clapping him on the back, Yuna had thrown her arms around Rikku and nearly squeezed the life out of her. Rikku grinned so hard her face hurt at all the congratulations. Lulu wore the biggest smile Rikku had ever seen from her. She offered Rikku a chance to hold the baby, but that was when Rikku noticed the definite lack of Paine. She excused herself and pushed out of the crowd, looking for the swordswoman.

"Rikku."

She whirled. Brother stood off to the side, hands in his armpits, watching his sister. She stepped closer, crossing her own arms, braced for the worst.

"Ra sygac oui… rybbo?" said Brother, haltingly.

"Oac," she said.

Relief flooded his face. "Drah dryd ec ymm E haat du ghuf."

She smiled and turned to go.

"But…" he said.

She glanced over her shoulder.

"He hurts you, I kill him," he said.

She laughed and shook her head, walking away from that. _I'd like to see you try! You're half his size. He'd eat you for breakfast. Still… I appreciate the sentiment, brother mine._

* * *

Paine stood by the statue overlooking the village, sunlight making her silver hair glow and buckles glitter. Rikku's moves grew stealthy, her blood warm.

_You_, thought Rikku. She felt a wave of shock hit her as she discovered herself drawing her dagger. She stumbled to a stop.

Paine turned, saw Rikku, and an agonized look bloomed on her normally composed features.

"Rikku," said Paine. "I… I want to apologize for my behavior. Towards Auron. I had no idea."

Tysh_ right, you should apologize_, Rikku's bitter thoughts murmured. She swallowed. _You started this whole mess._ Memories flashed across her mind of all those gut-wrenching practice sessions between Paine and Auron, and most painfully, that last picture of the two of them on deck. Auron's hands on her hips.

_You _pedlr_!_

Rikku took a deep, steadying breath, alarmed that she could still have so much anger at Paine, even though Auron was now decidedly and publicly Rikku's.

"I'm so sorry," Paine said, spreading her hands, words tumbling faster into the terse silence. "Your friendship means a great deal to me. I never meant to come between you and Auron. I… I… I kissed him once. He stopped me and told me he didn't have those kinds of feelings for me. I promised him it wouldn't happen again. Or any other behavior of the kind." She looked wretched, but steeled, as if awaiting a strike she knew she deserved.

Rikku shook her head to try to dispel her own vicious little thoughts. With enormous effort she summoned the words: "Well… I guess I need to apologize to you, too. I've been a royal _pedlr_ to you ever since you started flirting with him." She felt tired and drained after saying this.

Paine flushed and dropped her eyes. "I didn't know. Neither of you ever said. I thought you were just friends."

"So did we," admitted Rikku. "I guess for that we have you to thank… in… a weird way." She shifted, her mouth twisting. _No! I've got to put this anger away for another day._ "I got so jealous I couldn't see straight."

"Is that why you left?" said Paine.

Rikku nodded. "I was afraid that I might… hurt you." _I wish I had_, her thoughts contradicted her mouth. "I'm glad I didn't." _I _really_ wish I had._ "Really I am!"

Paine said nothing.

"Oh, Paine," sighed Rikku, focusing her thoughts on a picture of Auron. "How can I blame you? Auron is one smokin' hot hunk of man."

Paine laughed sharply. Just like that, the tension dissipated. Rikku's head cleared. She moved forward, spreading her arms. To her surprise Paine seemed to gratefully accept the hug.

"He is, isn't he?" Paine said, a laugh at the edge of her tone.

"He sure is!" Rikku pulled back and schooled her face into a stern look as she shook a finger at Paine. "Hands off my fiancé, though, if you want them to stay attached to your body!"

Paine giggled and drew an 'X' over her breast. "Oui ryja so funt!"

"Someday you'll have to tell me the story of how you know Al Bhed! I'm dying of curiosity."

Paine shrugged. "Not much to tell. As a member of the Crimson Squad I trained with Gippal, Nooj, and Baralai on Bikanel. Spent a lot of time there with them."

"Oh. …Are you… worried about them?"

Paine turned away, looking out at the ocean.

"Sorry if that's too personal. I never know where the line is with you."

"It isn't. I just don't have an answer. I'm not as… in touch with my feelings as you are."

Rikku burst out laughing, startling Paine. "Ain't it the truth! Hey, wanna be a bridesmaid?"

Paine looked horrified. "Wear a _dress_?!"

"Ha! I'd probably see Auron in a dress sooner than you! Wear whatever you want, I don't care."

Paine's expression sobered. "You… you really mean it?"

"Of course! We're friends, aren't we?"

A smile spread on Paine's pale face. "Always."

The two girls linked arms and headed back down to the village.

Dark anger inside Rikku's subconscious seethed and subsided, to wait and watch.


	28. Turn and Face the Strange

Auron found himself walking with Beclem to the beach, the Besaid Aurochs singing off-key in a procession ahead of them.

"Congratulations," Beclem said to him. "You sure she's not too young? No offense."

"None taken," said Auron. "And yes, I am sure."

"Well, you seem to know your own mind," said Beclem. "Speaking of which, has Wakka settled on a name for his kid, or is he still dithering about it?"

"Still dithering," said Auron.

"Never could make up his mind," said Beclem. As they reached the dock, he dug in his pocket. "I have something here. I'd like you to give it to him."

Auron accepted the sphere, glowing golden in the sun.

"It's a memory of a war buddy. I'd give it to him myself, but…" Beclem shrugged. "You understand."

"All aboard!" called the captain of the large waiting passenger ship. "We'll be settin' sail shortly!"

"See he gets it," said Beclem. A blitzball smacked into his shin.

"Sorry!" Keepa's deep voice growled, behind them.

Beclem came to life, unexpectedly sending the ball off with a trick kick that had all the yellow-uniformed blitzballers gaping at him.

"Whoa!" said Keepa.

"Practice harder!" said Beclem.

"Hey!" said Keepa.

"Next time we meet, let's blitz, ya?" said Jassu.

"Yeah! Show us that shot again sometime!" said Datto.

"Slackers to the very end," said Beclem.

The Aurochs waved as Beclem and the other lingering passengers and well-wishers boarded the boat. They hollered and hooted and whistled until the boat was out of range.

"You're staying 'till tomorrow morning, ya?" said Letty, clapping Auron on the back. "We gotta go surfin' together again, man!"

Auron shrugged.

"And plan your bachelor party!" said Botta, which met with a round of enthusiastic, deep man yells.

"Take that up with the best man," said Auron. "The Gullwings have a prior engagement to see to."

"It's gonna be the best!" Jassu punched the air and then chest-bumped Keepa.

Wakka jogged up at the moment and stopped at the dock to lean forward and brace himself on his knees, gasping for air. When he'd caught his breath, he said, "Beclem left already? Man, I wanted to say goodbye!"

The Aurochs' voices faded as they sang their way back toward the village.

"Here," said Auron. "He left this for you." He handed Wakka the sphere.

Wakka activated it. The two men watched as a grainy image of Wakka praying at the statue above the village filled the display. Wakka gasped.

_"Hey, Wakka, remember that time…" Chappu's voice trailed off. "Nah, you prob'ly forgot. Somethin' I told you back when we were kids, ya? There's a sphere on the island, I said. Showin' Mom and Dad." The view turned around to Chappu's face. "I lied. Truth is, there's no such sphere. I'm sorry. Back then, you'd lecture me no matter what I did. 'Someone has to keep you in line, ya?' I guess I was kinda bitter. That's why I made up that story about the sphere."_

_ The view switched back to the kneeling Wakka, who shouted, "If you got time to take pictures, you got time to pray! Especially since you're joining the Crusaders." He approached Chappu._

_ "Enough with the preaching!" said Chappu._

_ "Someone has to keep you in line, with our parents not around," said Wakka._

_ "Knock it off with the surrogate parenting and give us both a break," Chappu muttered into the sphere recorder. He turned the recorder back around to address it directly. "I just need you to be my brother."_

The display went dark.

"His brother, ya," Wakka said sadly. "I don't know why he just couldn't come out and say it. Anyways…" He shook himself and focused on Auron. "You and Rikku, ya?"

Auron didn't even try to fight the grin that spread on his face.

"Sure you know what you're doin'?" said Wakka.

Auron lifted an eyebrow.

Wakka slumped. "What am I sayin'? You were probably thinkin' the same thing when I proposed to Lu, ya?"

Auron shrugged. "It is your life. I trust you to do what you feel is best."

"The two of you been together for three years, anyway. Just thought it was friendship, ya? Well… most of the time, anyway. Didn't seem right to ask," said Wakka. They started walking back to the village.

"It has been… an unusual relationship," said Auron.

"To say the least! Thought for sure you two would kill each other, but somehow you made it work! Well, can't be stranger than me an' Lu, ya?" Wakka considered. "Then again…"

"Sometimes friendship becomes more than that, and sometimes it is so gradual it can be difficult to tell."

Wakka laughed. "You got that right! So, when's the big day?"

"We haven't discussed it. However I would like you to be my best man, when the time comes."

"It'd be an honor!" Wakka laughed. "Man, never thought I'd see the day, ya? For either of you. More I think about it, though, more it makes sense—you and Rikku. You guys stay in the village 'till nightfall, at least, ya?"

* * *

Wakka stood up and cleared his throat. Firelight flickered over his burnished skin and orange hair, and in the eyes of the baby cradled in his arms. "Well you probably know why I called you all here, huh?" he said to his gathered friends. "I'd like to introduce the newest member of Besaid Village."

"We already met him!" hollered Datto, to the laughs of the other Aurochs.

"So you picked a name yet?" said Botta.

"Don't tell me this is a brainstorming session!" said Jassu.

"Like I'd do something like that!" said Wakka. "I chose a name."

Everyone fell silent, expectant. Auron shifted his arms around Rikku, who sat with her back pressed up against his chest, her hair under his cheek to stop it getting into his eyes.

"His name is Vidina," said Wakka. "Everybody take good care of him, ya?"

Cheers greeted his announcement. Beer was poured out for everyone interested in partaking. Kids ran shrieking and laughing around the periphery. Lulu took Vidina in her arms again. Rikku, Yuna, and Paine clustered around her.

Wakka settled next to Auron in comfortable silence for a while.

"I always try to cram myself into some kinda mold, you know?" said Wakka at length. "A blitzer, or a guardian, or a follower of Yevon… And now, a father. I always get so wound up about what I should be. But you know, in the end I'm just me." He glanced at Auron, and grinned. "Anyway, I can't keep coming up with new Wakkas all the time, eh? So it looks like I'll just have to start doing things my way. That's the way I'll write our story."

"What is the part of you that you never take off, even when you lay down your roles and names?" murmured Auron. "Who are you where your name stops and your thoughts stop, in the heart of night, in the space between each moment and the next?" He saw Wakka's bewildered look and smiled. "Something an old friend said to me once."

"Oh, ya? What'd you say to him? Who are you, anyways?" Wakka laughed. "Listen to us! Sounds like the beer talkin', ya? Been a long day!"

Auron caught Rikku's eyes across the fire. She was holding Vidina. He stood up, clapped Wakka on the shoulder, and crossed to squat beside her. His lips found hers for a brief moment, and she smiled.

"Don't tell me you two are thinking of starting a family already?" said Lulu.

"Horrifying thought, isn't it?" said Rikku cheerfully, handing Vidina back. "Our kids are gonna be absolute terrors!"

Auron snorted, tugging her into his arms to give her a noogie. She squawked and shoved at him.

Paine shook her head, putting her head in her hand. "You're no better than children yourselves!"

"_Tysh_ right," said Rikku. "Well, much as we'd love to catch the morning waves, time's a-wasting."

"Must you rush?" said Lulu. "You know you are welcome here."

"Thank you," said Yuna, rising. "But Rikku is right. There are things left unfinished."

* * *

"Ugh, there's no _room_ in here!" Rikku complained. She struggled to squeeze her potions and items into every available space in the small private room under the bunks on the Celsius. "Claustrophobia to the max!"

"Cozy," Auron said, sliding his hands over her stomach from behind. He kissed her neck as she stretched to try to stuff all her chocobo feathers onto a shelf. "You really don't need all that in here, you know."

"It's my _stuff_!" she said. "Your stuff is in here!"

"I don't mind storing it somewhere else. What is important is the _privacy_." He slid a hand under the left stretchy yellow triangle that barely kept her breast covered from Spira's eyes. "If I may demonstrate?"

She groaned and leaned back into him. "Yuna and Paine are just overhead. They're gonna _hear_."

"So be quiet." He trailed his lips down her shoulder, along her arm.

"_Me_? What about _you_?!" She swiveled to glare at him. He used her motion to tug the strings of her top until they untied. The yellow triangles hit the floor. Her hands planted on her hips. He surveyed her with a sly grin.

"You are _way_ louder than I am," she said.

"Perhaps I don't care what other people think," he said.

"Or perhaps you're enormously pleased with yourself for bagging such a hot piece of Al Bhed _ycc_, and you want all of Spira to hear you crowing?"

"There is that." He kissed her palm, then guided her fingers into his hair, bowing his head toward her.

"Man, you really like that, don't you?" She reached up with her other hand to tickle and massage his scalp. "Weirdo."

He rumbled a laugh as he unbuckled his pants. "You're the one with the ticklish bellybutton."

"Oh yeah? What about the backs of your knees?"

"And your earlobes?"

"And your _everything_?"

"All yours."

"_Tysh_ right!" She used her fingertip to trace letters on his forehead. "Property of Rikku!"

He twirled her around in his arms and pressed his lips to her back, whispering between her shoulderblades, "Property of Auron."

* * *

As quiet as the nascent couple managed to be out of respect for their shipmates, calm shattered in the dead of night when Rikku woke them all with screaming. As Auron tried to calm her down, he heard knocking at the door.

"Is everything all right?" said Yuna.

Rikku's tears prevented her from speaking.

"Nightmare," said Auron. "Go back to sleep. We're all right."

"No, I'm not," Rikku whispered. "I'm not, I'm not, I have to _go_! _Now_! Vegnagun!"

"Tomorrow," he said.

She thrashed. "You said that _yesterday_!"

"Calm down. You are still not completely awake. When you are awake you recognize the importance of _planning_."

"We're gonna plan ourselves right out of existence if we put this off anymore! Let go of me!"

He kissed her, not knowing what else to do, hoping it would have the same effect as the prior morning. After a few moments he felt her muscles relax. Her arms opened and encircled him, pulling him deeper.

"It feels better when you do that," she whispered urgently, kissing his neck. "Please don't stop. Don't let me fall asleep again."

"What about tomorrow? If we do not sleep, we will not be able to…"

"Screw tomorrow! Auron… _please_…"

He viscerally felt her begging, like a button punched at the base of his spine or his skull, bypassing all reason. He couldn't help but obey that voice.


	29. Den of Woe

"_What_?!" Rikku yelled in Yuna's face.

Yuna reared back, and Rikku flushed with heat, feeling as surprised as Yuna felt. She could feel the oppressive silence of everyone on the Celsius's bridge watching them.

More words tumbled out of Rikku, numbly, in the wake of her shock: "You can't be _serious_! Spira, is, like, totally in danger—worse than Sin—and you're worried about the Youth League? Why are we wasting time? There won't _be_ a Youth League, or New Yevon or Machine Faction or even anyone if we don't go down one of those holes and stop Shuyin and Vegnagun!"

Yuna shook her head. "The fiends aren't pouring out of the temples anymore. We will go after Vegnagun, but Auron's right—I don't want to rush in without thinking."

"Like me, you mean?" Rikku said bitterly.

"What's gotten into you?" said Yuna.

"Gotten into _me_?" said Rikku, flapping a hand dismissively at her cousin. In her rage her sight blurred, and for a moment Yuna didn't even look like herself, but a total stranger, an obstacle between Rikku and her mission. "I don't know when you turned into such a scaredy-cat!"

Everyone gasped. Yuna took a step back, mouth hanging open. Bright spots shimmered across Rikku's vision.

Rikku felt a hand on her shoulder and flung Auron off, face screwed up in an effort not to scream or cry or both. Rikku couldn't believe she'd just said that more than anyone else, but anger and shame crowded any apologies out of her throat. She whirled and glared at Auron. "And don't tell me to calm down _one more time_ or I'm gonna scream! No one is taking this seriously but me!"

Paine stepped forward. "I am. I want answers. And they're in the cave at the bottom of Mushroom Rock Road. Something happened there two years ago, and it's tied to what's happening now. I've been avoiding my past long enough. It's time for me to face the truth. If we go there we can kill two birds with one stone—make sure Yaibal doesn't do anything foolish while New Yevon is in disarray, and unlock the Den of Woe."

It was the longest speech any of them had heard from Paine, and it startled Rikku enough to make her forget her urge to stomp off to one of the temples and dive in a hole by herself.

"Maybe… maybe some things are better left locked," said Rikku, her stomach turning over.

"What?" Paine smiled wryly. "When did _you_ turn into a scaredy-cat?"

"_Hey_!" Rikku shrieked, and dove toward Paine. Paine skipped back, laughing, which incensed Rikku into a furious growl. Auron grabbed Rikku around the waist. She kicked at him as he carried her off the bridge.

"Don't treat me like a child!" she yelled at him as he dragged her to the lift.

"Stop acting like one." As the doors shut he put her down and squared off against her, arms folded. "I know you've been having nightmares. I know how you get when that's happening, and they don't seem to leave you alone in the daytime. I have lived with nightmares too. But remember what happened last time you let your nightmares make decisions for you."

She whined through her nose, sinking back against the rail. "You know Vegnagun's trouble. You heard what Maechen said. I don't trust Baralai, especially not now, but even he knew how dangerous Vegnagun is. Every second it's loose we're all in danger. I want us to have a future together, Auron! All of us!"

He sighed and opened his arms. She shied away.

"No!" she said. "Every time you touch me I forget how…"

His arms enveloped her protests and just like a heavy blanket extinguishing a fire her panic subsided. She grabbed him and held fast.

"I cannot live like this," she murmured into his arm, stroking his back. "I _screamed_ at Yunie! What's happening to me, Auron?"

"You are scared," he said. "And being scared makes you unreasonably angry. I get that way too."

She glared at him. "You do not."

"I do. I've had more practice detaching from that anger, watching myself having it instead of _being_ my anger," he said.

"You're being condescending again."

"I apologize."

"And now you're being apologetic!"

"And you're being argumentative."

She seethed and dug her fingers into him, burrowing her head against him. She didn't want to let go, afraid of her own emotions, but resented being so helpless in the face of them she had to hang onto him as a tether to sanity. "I just want this to be over with. Much as I dearly wanted to unearth Paine's past before, now it's just an irritating distraction."

"I believe her, that this has some bearing on what's happening now. We need to know all we can. _Then_ we can go charging in Rikku-style, all right?"

"Yeah, you keep saying that, and it keeps getting put off." She nipped at the flesh of his bicep. To her shock, he shivered, gooseflesh rippling his arm. Interested, she nipped him again.

"If you don't stop, I am taking you back to the cabin."

"Ooh, what a threat! That supposed to dissuade me?" She leaned in and he shied away.

"_You_ are the one in a hurry for our hot date with Vegnagun. So decide: sex or saving the world?"

She whined and stuck her tongue out at him. "I hate you. I hate you for being so irresistible."

He grinned and leaned in to kiss her passionately, stroking her face. "I hate you more," he murmured, gazing in her eyes.

She smacked him on the rear, gripped and pulled him in. "Let's go to the Den of Woe."

"I never knew you were such a romantic. You take me to the nicest places."

* * *

Rikku, forcing herself not to fidget, found about halfway through Lucil's speech at Youth League Headquarters strangely compelling: "…look at us now! The power we hoped to use for good has intoxicated us all. Even Nooj. The Youth League is in danger of becoming a mindless band of thugs that know only violence. A power that destroys rather than creates. Without meaning. No better than Sin. Do you remember why the Youth League seeks the truth behind Spira's past? Because Spira's past is the foundation for its future. Our power exists so that we may cut a new road, to a new age. An age where children will never have to lift a sword!"

Rikku snorted at this last, but the rest of the speech still rang in her ears. Subdued, she followed Yuna, Auron, and Paine to the balcony where Lucil stood after the breakup of the crowd.

"Yaibal, your unit will work with Machine Faction forces," said Lucil.

Yaibal saluted smartly. "Understood!"

"Elma, you and your men will patrol the Highroad," said Lucil. "Only, be sure to avoid stirring up New Yevon."

"I'm on it!" responded Elma, former chocobo knight. Both she and Yaibal marched off with great purpose.

"You seem like you have things well in hand," said Yuna. "I'm glad to see you taking so well to being the new meyvn."

"Only acting leader," said Lucil. "There is only one man fit to be the meyvn. Ah, before I forget… This is for you, Lady Yuna. I hope that it will help you understand Nooj a little better." She passed Yuna a sphere. Paine straightened, met Yuna's eyes, and nodded.

"Thank you," said Yuna. As they left headquarters and headed down into the Den of Woe, she murmured to Paine, "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," said Paine.

Rikku felt that sinking, queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach again. "We don't have to do this if you don't want to."

Paine shook her head. "Time to face my past. Let's go."

* * *

Rikku's flesh crawled as they inserted all ten spheres into the locks of the door to the Den of Woe. Her head whirled and hummed with the sound of it. The bluegreen cast of their light as they lit up reflected off the mist. The air seem to shimmer, like Bikanel's deserts in midday.

The door ground and shook as the halves of it pulled back into the rock walls, grating Rikku's teeth as it opened. Cold poured out and over them.

Nothing else came out.

After a moment, Auron said, "Anticlimactic. We go in?"

Paine nodded. They followed her through darkness alleviated only by dipping, diving, crying pyreflies. Rikku's flesh crawled. The glanced up at Auron, whose scanning eyes turned flat and reflective of the pyreflies. She shuddered, looking away. The sight of him wreathed in them brought back memories she would have gladly locked up behind a thousand doors and rock walls.

They reached a dead end. A wind blew across Rikku's bare back from nowhere. She hunched and spun, grabbing her daggers. "Something's coming!" Her shriek sounded embarrassingly loud to her own ears.

Paine darted forward at the sight of three spectral men. "Guys!" The visions vanished like a mirage as she reached them.

"You okay?" said Yuna.

"What was that?" said Paine.

"Memories," said Auron. "The pyreflies here preserve them, showing them again and again to the living. Much like in Zanarkand Temple, where the memories of previous High Summoners remained to psyche out those who came after."

Yuna gave a desperate, forced laugh, whose echoes in that creepy place sounded truly awful.

"Those were the guys' memories from back then," said Paine, lifting a glove to her face. "Recreated by the pyreflies. Memories. …Or two-year-old nightmares."

The pyreflies coalesced in a burst of greenish light high up behind her in the rocks. "Older than that," said a grim male voice. A new form sat there. Rikku dropped to her knees with a whimper, shaking her head.

"Shuyin!" said Lenne.

_Yuna_, Rikku corrected herself. She grabbed her throbbing head and gave it another shake. Stabbing pain flowered from her temples. She heard Paine's and Auron's voices dim and faraway, as if underwater. Shuyin's voice echoed as if from inside her head.

"_I wanted to rest forever_," he intoned, "_but the pyreflies made me relive that moment… again and again and again_!"

Like a dozen spheres activating at once in Rikku's head, her mind filled with static and flashing images and pain—Lenne and Shuyin's bodies falling under a hail of bullets, Auron's youthful specter in Zanarkand dropping to his knees under Yunalesca's cold stare, Jecht dissolving into pyreflies, Tidus fading to nothing in the pitiless sunlight with his arms around Yuna.

"Rikku!" yelled Auron.

"_Don't touch me_!" Rikku heard Shuyin snarl from out of her mouth, her chest, her throat. She felt her body rise up, daggers flashing out.

_No!_ she screamed, deep inside herself. …_Hu!_

She watched herself, helpless, unable to move in her own body. She watched Paine be possessed too, and Yuna collapse. Auron dropped to his knees by her side, glaring and swatting at the pyreflies clustering thick around him. Rikku tried with every inch of her to move even a fingertip, but remained fixed as if she'd been caught in a basilisk's gaze. Paine stood equally stock-still.

Yuna's body heaved, knocked Auron reeling and holding his nose.

She swung her pistol about wildly. "_I'm… not… Lenne_!" she shouted.

Rikku felt Shuyin take her body close, readying her daggers. Paine closed in on Yuna's other side. Auron drew his sword with a shout and charged in beside Yuna, placing himself between her and Rikku.

Rikku had to watch in horror while she and Paine fought Auron and Yuna. Nothing she did made the slightest sound, deterred even one slash of her dagger at the man she loved more than anything and her own beloved cousin. She couldn't even turn the daggers on herself, the body that no longer belonged to her, Shuyin's puppet.

She saw a glimmer of hope, a tiny space in her mind that happened if she kept her eyes fixed on Auron, and allowed memories of his death at Yunalesca's hands to shock through her.

It scorched her soul and scoured her heart like unbearable acid, the pain that had driven her back in time as well as nearly suicidally insane, but the pain absorbed her so wholly and personally that Shuyin didn't seem to be able to get into that part of her mind. In that tiny bit of breathable air, like a cool oasis of shade, she managed to shove a hand in her pouch, grab an item, and cram it in her mouth and swallow before Shuyin could notice, understand, and react.

She felt darkness's fingers close around her and squeeze the life out of her. The last sound she heard, spiking a lance of fear through her numb body, was Auron's scream of despair.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: Coming into the home stretch! This took longer than anticipated but fortunately there's not much more X-2 to go, so you won't have these evil cliffhangers to put up with for much longer…_


End file.
